Director General, Civil Aviation Authority was directed to ensure that:
information about the rights of passengers is prominently displayed at airports, on its web site and that passengers are apprised about their responsibilities as well as their rights through Public Address Systems;
airlines make available information about the rights of passengers through their web sites, electronic and printed tickets and at airlines counters; and
both ground staff and the plane crew are apprised of the rights of passengers with different disabilities.
The commission directed that the compliance report, containing relevant documents and empirically verifiable evidence, pertaining to the dissemination of information mentioned in para 28 be submitted to this commission by 12/02/2021.
The commission observed that the Respondent, CAA, as a regulator, cannot absolve itself from its responsibility of sharing rights of passengers by merely putting information about their rights on its web site, at some obscure corner, which is not easily accessible to citizen.
The commission held that the fact that the commission found it difficult to locate document pertaining to the rights of the passengers on CAA’s web site demonstrates that CAA has not prominently displayed this crucial information on its web site. Thus, instead of facilitating citizens’ in exercising their right of access to information about their rights as passengers, the Respondent, CAA has created hurdle in the exercise of constitutional right of citizens in matters of public importance.
The commission observed that it would be stating the obvious that passengers should not be treated as a homogenous group of people while disseminating information about their rights as passengers. Passengers also include those with different disabilities i.e., low-vision, blindness, speech, hearing and physical impairments.
The commission maintained that the Respondent, CAA is responsible to ensure that information about the rights of passengers is prominently displayed at airports, on its web site and that passengers are apprised about their responsibilities as well as their rights through Public Address Systems.
The commission also observed that the Respondent, CAA is responsible to ensure that information about the rights of passengers is disseminated through all channels of communication which the airlines employ for transaction of business with their passengers. As such, the Respondent should ensure airlines make available information about the rights of passengers through their web sites, electronic and printed tickets and airlines counters.