'You're Performing A Public Duty': MP High Court Exhorts Suggestions From IndiGo To Enhance Flight Connectivity To Jabalpur

While hearing a PIL for increasing flights to Jabalpur, the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday (September 15) granted time to airline IndiGo's parent company to submit suggestions to the state and central governments on enhancement of flight connectivity to various cities in the state to make it commercially or otherwise viable.The bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf in its order dictated:"Learned counsel appearing for Interglobe Aviation Limited prays for some time to make suggestions to both state and central government so as to enable the airlines consider enhancing connectivity to various cities of the state to make it commercially or otherwise viable. An affidavit has been filed in a sealed cover, the sealed cover is open, the affidavit is taken on record, and the registry shall scan and upload the same. List on October 9, 2025". A PIL was filed by Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch, which highlighted that Jalabalpur is home to 3 defence factories, 5 universities, as well as to well-known religious sites. Despite its economic and strategic importance, most of the flights previously operating from Jabalpur have been discontinued, despite nearly INR 500 crores being spent on upgrading the airport.During the hearing today, advocate Siddharth Sharma for Interglobe Aviation Limited submitted a sealed report of the data concerning the number of flights, number of passengers, number of mid-day flights etc, as inquired by the court. The court proposed testing alternative timings, such as early morning or late evening flights, to allow passengers to complete same-day business trips. It orally said,"at the moment we are concentrating on you only... Mr Sharma, on any given day, the flights from Jabalpur to Indore, not even a single seat available. Even to Delhi to-and fro the flights are chopper-block. We can understand if occupancy is 50%, 60%...but 100% is full. You can consider it for some time as a test, have a flight or maybe shift this flight to early morning or late evening and see if you can do that. If you cannot increase the number of flights for the moment, at least make it reasonable time". It further said, "in effect since there is no public airlines and you are transporting, you will be performing a public duty. You cannot say that you are not performing a public duty... There are two options- either increase the number of flights, if you consider that at least make it rational. If you are looking at business hours from 10-5, there should be connectivity, say somebody can leave in the morning and come back in the evening, or maybe leave after business hours or leave before business hours". The court also said that while scheduling changes could affect other sectors due to cascading operational requirements, the airlines should still explore possibilities of better routes and timings.Consequently, the counsel for the airline sought time to place on record specific suggestions for improving flight operations in coordination with the State and central governments.The matter is listed on October 9.Meanwhile Senior Advocate Aditya Sanghi, appearing for the petitioner Parth Shrivastava, also highlighted the disparity in services between Jabalpur and other regional airports. He submitted that in 2011, authorities had promised expansion and a night-landing facility, with earlier operations including direct flights from Jabalpur to Raipur and multiple flights to Indore. He argued that these services had been reduced despite strong passenger demand.He argued, "expansion took place 4 years back, this airport was a greenfield airport, now it is a brownfield airport. In a brownfield, you are taking the entire money from passengers, the ticket is also heavy. Now, if we are dealing with brownfield airport, at least a minimum of 15-20 flights should land at that particular airport. Or you are taking the parking facility, parking taxation, and you are not providing the facility of brown field and using it as green field'. He further submitted, 'now you are saying that there are no passengers or there are lesser passengers, because passengers are moving from Indore and Nagpur, therefore, definitely no other alternative but to take it from Indore at a lesser price'. In an earlier hearing, the court had allowed an intervention application filed by a final-year law student highlighting the difficulties faced by lawyers and litigants due to poor flight connectivity from Jabalpur to its benches at Indore and Gwalior, as well as to the Supreme Court in Delhi. Case Title: Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch & Ors v. Union Of India & Ors, WP No. 14563 of 2024Counsel For Petitioner: Senior Advocate Aditya Sanghi and Advocate Dinesh Kumar UpadhyayCounsel For State: Deputy Advocate General Vivek SharmaCounsel For Airport Authority: Senior Advocate Anoop Nair and Advocate Mihir LinawatCounsel For Air India: Advocate Kunal ThakreCounsel For Inter Globe Aviation Limited: Advocate Siddharth SharmaCounsel...

'You're Performing A Public Duty': MP High Court Exhorts Suggestions From IndiGo To Enhance Flight Connectivity To Jabalpur

Jayanti Pahwa

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