New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has chided the airline companies for frequent loss of passengers' baggage and upheld a Rs 9.3 lakh penalty imposed on international carrier Royal Jordanian Airlines for misplacing a couple's baggage.
"Aap log to passengers ko pareshan kar rakha hai (you have harassed the passengers). These days, there are a lot of complaints from passengers that their baggages are missing.
The airlines must be made accountable for such losses," a Bench of Justices Markandeya Katju and T S Thakur said.
The apex court made the remarks while dismissing an appeal filed by the airlines challenging the findings recorded by the Orissa State Consumer Commission and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission(NCDRC).
"Poor people. They were forced to spend 15 days without their clothes. How do you expect them to lodge a complaint immediately? They would first obviously go to the shop to purchase their clothes," the Bench snapped at senior counsel A Sundaram, representing the Jordanian Airlines, when he tried to cite technical flaws in the complaint.
The couple in their complaint had alleged that they booked two tickets on the airlines flight from Kolkota to London's Heathrow Airport via Amman on May 17, 2001. However, their baggage was found stolen in Amman.