Supreme Court is hearing a plea filed by the Centre seeking a stay on the Bombay High Court order that had, as an interim order, directed Air India to leave middle seats vacant in its relief/rescue flights to ensure social distancing is maintained.

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SG Tushar Mehta, arguing for the Centre, tells the #SupremeCourt that High Court order relies on the circular passed before lockdown, in March this year.

SG Mehta says that circular was applicable to only scheduled flights and was intended for domestic operations

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Court inquires if the March 23rd circular stands superseded as on date.

SG Mehta says yes, adds that the relief/rescue flights became operational after a meeting by the experts was held.

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SG Mehta says that all the incoming passengers on these full capacity flights are mandated to go through 7 days institutional and 7 days home quarantine.

The Court observes however that maintaining #SocialDistancing is very important.

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Mehta argues that the best practice would be testing and quarantine, proposes to share the minutes of the meeting held by the experts.

Mehta says that it is the experts that decided against leaving seats vacant

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Court expresses inclination to leave the matter pending till the High Court decides the case.

Mehta says that there are not many aircraft available and operation of the interim order would lead to procedural issues considering flights are pre-booked.

ORDER: #SupremeCourt allows Air India to operate non-scheduled flights with Centre seat bookings for 10 days. Thereafter, the non-scheduled flights eill have to operate in accordance with the interim order passed by the High Court.

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The Supreme Court remands the matter to Bombay High Court with a request to pass an effective interim order on the next date of hearing after hearing all parties.

The @DGCAIndia is free to alter any norms it may consider appropriate during the pendency of the matter, SC says

Breaking: Partial relief for Centre, Air India as Supreme Court allows relief flights to operate with full capacity for 10 days #AirIndia @airindiain @DGCAIndia #Covid_19india https://bit.ly/2zrGYhN