Bombay HC Forms Committee To Address Challenges Faced By Senior Citizens And Disabled Passengers At Airports
Mumbai: In a significant step towards improving the air travel experience for senior citizens and persons with disabilities, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday constituted a three-member committee to examine the challenges faced by such passengers at airports and recommend solutions.
“We are really concerned about senior citizens,” remarked a division bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna while appointing the panel. The court emphasised that the exercise is not adversarial but a social welfare initiative aimed at ensuring dignity and accessibility for all air travellers.
The committee will be chaired by former Andhra Pradesh High Court judge Justice Goda Raghuram and include consumer activist Shirish Deshpande and a representative from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Its findings and recommendations will be submitted to the DGCA for consideration and implementation.
The court was hearing two petitions — one by an 81-year-old woman and her daughter, and another by a 53-year-old man — highlighting the lack of wheelchair availability and other mobility support at Mumbai International Airport. In one incident, the elderly petitioner had to give up her wheelchair for her daughter, who suffers from acute arthritis, after they were offered just one aid upon arrival.
“These petitions raise seminal issues regarding the ordeals of senior citizens during air travel, particularly the non-availability of wheelchairs and other essential facilities,” the bench noted.
The DGCA, in its affidavit, said it had already issued guidelines under the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), placing responsibility on airlines and airport operators to provide wheelchairs, ramps, and ambulifts to passengers with reduced mobility.
The regulator also cited a tragic case where an 80-year-old passenger arriving from New York collapsed and died after being denied pre-requested wheelchair assistance at Mumbai airport. A financial penalty was imposed on the airline after the DGCA took suo motu cognisance of the incident.
“This incident ought to have been an eye-opener… There cannot be any laxity or negligence on such basic requirements,” the bench observed, stressing the need for sensitisation of airline and airport staff to handle such passengers with care and humanity.
The committee will consult stakeholders including airlines, airport operators, the petitioners, representatives of disabled travellers, and officials from the Disability Commissioner’s office. It will submit a report recommending essential norms for improving facilities and coordination among stakeholders to ensure a smoother, safer travel experience.
“This is a collective responsibility,” the court said, adjourning the matter to June 30, while expressing hope that the proposed framework could serve as a model of international standards.
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