No Fly List Rule – Burning Issues

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The News

Multiple airlines have ‘banned’ stand up comedian Kunal Kamra after he accosted news anchor Arnab Goswami on a flight on 28 January.
Kunal Kamra filmed the entire incident and posted the same on his social media.
He called Goswami out for his journalism, calling him a ‘coward’ among other things.

The National No Fly List is an Indian government initiative to identify disruptive passengers and temporarily prohibit them from boarding flights.
The objective of the list is “to ensure safety and check unruly and disruptive behaviour on aircraft”.
The no-fly list is compiled and maintained by theDirectorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) based on inputs from airlines

These rules were made after Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad assaulted an Air India employee “25 times” with a slipper in March 2017.
The primary objective of the no-fly list was to safeguard crew and the aircraft.
The rules provide for different actions according to the degree of offence.

Level 1 offences –

Level 2 offences –

Level 3 offence –

Any action that threatens the life of a passenger or attempts to damage to aircraft systems
Punishable with a mandatory minimum ban of at least 2 years.
In this case, Mr. Kamra has been punished with a six-month ban for a verbal commentary made to a passenger to his face.

According to the rules laid down by DGCA in its Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) guidelines, this is what an airline has to do when a passenger behaves in an unruly manner –
The crew has to inform the pilot about an unruly passenger.
The procedure to place a passenger on the list must be initiated by the pilot in command of the flight who makes a report to the airline.
The airline must form an internal committee to study the case and decide on punishment.
The committee must be headed by a retired District or Sessions judge, and the remaining members come from various scheduled airline and passenger associations, consumer associations and retired officials of the Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum.
The committee must make its decision within 30 days.
During the 30 day period, the passenger is prohibited from boarding flights operated by the airline that filed the report.
If the committee does not make a decision within 30 days, the case against the passenger is automatically dropped.
Are other airlines bound to act too?
Other airlines may choose to deny service to the passenger but are not compelled to do so.
The full list of individuals placed on the no fly list is displayed on the DGCA website

A banned passenger has the right to appeal their ban within 60 days of committee decision.
Appeals are reviewed by a panel set up by the Ministry of Civil Aviation
But if it is the Ministry upholds the ban, the passenger can appeal to High court .

It is unclear if IndiGo has set up a committee to investigate the incident.
How did the airline decide on the six-month suspension period?
The airlines have not provided the grounds on which it has taken such a stringent action

BJP MP Pragya Thakur had held up a SPICEJET flight last month and argued with crew and passengers after refusing to vacate a seat next to the emergency exit despite being on a wheelchair as required under aviation rules.
No action was taken.