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Credit shell facility can't be availed by travel agents: Centre
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SME Times News Bureau | 25 Sep, 2020
The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its order on a plea seeking refund
for airline tickets booked during the Covid-19 lockdown, after the
Centre submitted that as per the "proposed formulation", the credit
shell has to go to the account of the passenger, in whose name the
ticket was issued.
The credit shell cannot be a lump sum amount
paid by the travel agents to the airlines, which is only for
pre-blocking of tickets and does not amount to purchase of tickets, the
Centre said in its affidavit.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta,
representing the Centre, submitted before a bench comprising Justices
Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and M.R. Shah, that the credit shell
facility cannot be availed by travel agents who booked tickets during
lockdown.
"So far as travel agents are concerned, we cannot regulate them. We don't have control over it," he said.
The
Centre, in its additional affidavit, said: "The travel agent, if any,
involved in the purchase of any ticket on behalf of any passenger
remains only a via media, leaving the principal contract between the
airlines and the passenger only, which is the only mode recognised under
the regulatory mechanism of the answering respondent."
The bench
queried Mehta, if the credit shell is not used till the deadline, will
the money get transferred in the agent's account. To this, he replied
the government cannot control contractual obligations between passengers
and agents.
"The DGCA (the Directorate General of Civil
Aviation) and MoCA (the Ministry of Civil Aviation) are neither privy to
nor a party to such contracts. It is respectfully submitted that these
aspects are also beyond the regulatory ambit of the DGCA/MoCA and
accordingly, the answering respondent can neither supervise nor regulate
these private arrangements between the various airlines, travel agents,
tour operators etc," said the affidavit.
Mehta emphasised that
the government has done its best to ensure that the passenger either
gets the money back or gets the voucher (credit shell) which is
transferable.
As the bench asked if the passenger surrenders the
voucher to the agent, will it be refunded, he said that the government
has no issue if the passengers get their money back by surrendering the
voucher.
Senior advocate Pallav Shishodia, appearing for the
travel agents, pointed out the passengers have paid the money to the
agents, and not to the airline, and there are many cases where the
agents have paid in advance to the airline to book tickets.
The
bench said the interest of the travel agents is protected, as if the
voucher is not used, then the money will be deposited in their account.
Appearing
for GoAir, Senior Advocate Arvind Datar said the airlines were facing
massive losses and now they were to bear the burden of paying the refund
to the passengers. To this the bench replied: "But that is your
airline's problem, how can you hold up passengers' money?"
Datar
argued that from 100 per cent flights, the airline is at 60 per cent in
operation in September. After a hearing on the matter, the bench
reserved its order.
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