Autorickshaw fare is more than airline fare, says HC while refusing capping of airfares
New Delhi, May 15: Observing that airline industry is "very very competitive" and the players are running "huge losses", the Delhi High Court on Wednesday said it would not be appropriate to pass any directions for the capping of airfares across the country.
"Market forces will decide the pricing of tickets. The industry is doing very well today. You look at any airline flying today, it is a highly competitive industry. An auto rickshaw fare is more than the airline fare today," a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora said.
The court disposed of two petitions seeking regulation of pricing of flight tickets and said it would pass a detailed order.
"Today the industry is very very competitive. You will find those who are running airlines are into huge losses," the bench said, adding huge investment is coming in this sector and "let's not make it more regulated".
"It is a well-controlled sector. Every industry which is doing well need not be tampered with," the bench said.
It said stray incidents will not require the court to entertain public interest litigations (PIL) on the issue and bring the entire sector under any new regulation.
The two PILs were filed by advocate Amit Sahni and consumer rights activist Bejon Misra, through lawyer Shashank Deo Sudhi.
The petitioners urged the court to pass directions to cap airfares across the country so that customers are not "fleeced arbitrarily" by airlines.
The counsel for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) opposed the plea and submitted that the airfares depend on the routes as well as the availability of planes and sometimes there are very few passengers in the aircraft and yet they fly.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
