Unruly behaviour with airline staff could soon result in a lifetime flying ban as the government on Friday came out with draft regulations for creation of the first-of-its-kind national no fly list. The fresh rules are being brought by ammending the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) rules 2014.
With this, India will become the first country in the world to have a unique no fly list. Though there exists a global practice of maintaining a no fly list in some countries, those lists are maintained only on basis of security reasons meaning those countries ban people who are considered threat to society. India’s national no fly list will have people recommended by not just security agencies but also people who misbehave in the air. For repeat offenders, the ban will be twice the period of previous ban. The draft regulations were put in the public domain on Friday to invite suggestions from the public over the next month, following this the government will finalize the final regulations before June 30.
Making the announcement on Friday, Civil aviation minister Gajapthi Raju said amendments were needed to ensure no unruly passenger goes scot -free, adding there were some shortcomings in the previous rules.
Draft Regulations for creation of a No Fly list
- Airlines will have the freedom to ban any person immediately after the alleged incident
- A quasi-judicial committee of the airline would decide within 10 days of the incident whether the passenger was at fault or not and accordingly the ban would be imposed or revoked
- The three-member committee will comprise a retired District & Sessions Judge as Chairman, a representative from a different scheduled Airline, a representative from a passengers association or consumer association or retired officer of Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum as Member.
- If the commitee finds a passenger to be at fault, the person’s name would find way into the national no fly list and the person would subsequently be banned from flying for a period ranging from three months to lifetime depending on the gravity of misbehaviour
- Unruly behaviour of passengers categorised into three levels and accordingly the flying ban will be imposed.
- Level 1 will be for disruptive behaviour like physical gestures etc. The punishment in this category is a suspension for 3 months.
- Level 2 will be for offences which will include physical abuses like pushing, kicking, sexual harassment etc. The punishment in the 2nd category is a suspension for 6 months.
- Level 3 offences for life-threatening behaviour such as a murderous assault or for causing damage to the aircraft. In this case, the passengers can be suspended for up to 2 years.
- If the passenger is dissatisfied with the decision of the commitee, he/she can challenge the decision before a three-member appellate committee which will also comprise a retired high court judge
- The appelate commitee will be set up by the government and will comprise a retired Judge of a High Court, a representative from a passengers association or consumer association or retired officer of Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum , a representative of the airline of the rank not below the Vice-President
- if the security agencies put any passenger's name on a no-fly list, they too will be banned from boarding an aircraft and these passengers won't be eligible to challenge the decision before the appellate committee
- Draft regulations will be open to public feedback from Friday, following which final regulations will come into being before June 30
- To implement the no-fly list, the government is also looking to see how they can link a passenger making a domestic airline booking to a common identity card, be it a passport or Aadhaar card, so that genuine passengers are not harassed.
