Airlines can't impose flying ban on anyone: RS Dy Chairman
July 20, 2017 13:28
Airlines have no authority to impose flying ban on anybody, including parliamentarians, and the law of the land should take its course, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said today.
The remarks came after SP member Naresh Agrawal raised the issue of recent flying ban imposed by major domestic airlines, including state-owned Air India.
Agrawal wanted to know if the airlines could impose such restrictions.
According to him, such an action was a breach of privilege of the Members of Parliament. To this, Kurien said agreed that Agrawal has raised a "valid point" that if any MP has committed a crime or something against the law, the law of the land should take its course.
"Airlines are not given the authority to punish anybody. I think the government should take note of it. "MPs are also citizens ... if they commit a crime or mistake, the law of the land should take recourse to it," the Deputy Chairman said.
He further said "it is a punishment imposed on an MP for some crime...This cannot be done. This is not a thing to be punished by airlines".
Congress MP Anand Sharma suggested to the Deputy Chairman that the word 'crime' should be replaced with 'violation'.
However, Kurien said if a person beats up someone, it is a crime.
Different airlines yesterday lifted the flying ban on TDP MP J C Diwakar Reddy after "urgent" notices from the court to the government and the aviation regulator DGCA on the lawmaker's plea against the action of domestic carriers.
Image: Several airlines had imposed a fly ban on Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad after he assaulted an Air India employee in March this year. The ban was later lifted.
The remarks came after SP member Naresh Agrawal raised the issue of recent flying ban imposed by major domestic airlines, including state-owned Air India.
Agrawal wanted to know if the airlines could impose such restrictions.
According to him, such an action was a breach of privilege of the Members of Parliament. To this, Kurien said agreed that Agrawal has raised a "valid point" that if any MP has committed a crime or something against the law, the law of the land should take its course.
"Airlines are not given the authority to punish anybody. I think the government should take note of it. "MPs are also citizens ... if they commit a crime or mistake, the law of the land should take recourse to it," the Deputy Chairman said.
He further said "it is a punishment imposed on an MP for some crime...This cannot be done. This is not a thing to be punished by airlines".
Congress MP Anand Sharma suggested to the Deputy Chairman that the word 'crime' should be replaced with 'violation'.
However, Kurien said if a person beats up someone, it is a crime.
Different airlines yesterday lifted the flying ban on TDP MP J C Diwakar Reddy after "urgent" notices from the court to the government and the aviation regulator DGCA on the lawmaker's plea against the action of domestic carriers.
Image: Several airlines had imposed a fly ban on Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad after he assaulted an Air India employee in March this year. The ban was later lifted.