Despite American Airlines ban, student can fly with other carriers: Experts

Although the American Airlines has imposed a lifetime flying ban on Aryan Vohra for urinating on a fellow passenger on a flight the 21yearold student can fly with other foreign and domestic air carriers legal and aviation experts have said Indian civil aviation norms donrsquot apply to foreign aviation companies they saidldquoYes he can fly with other foreign and domestic airlines because foreign airlines are not regulated by Indian civil aviation normsrdquo said Arun Kumar who has just retired as director general Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA Aviation expert Amit Singh who runs NGO Safety Matters Foundation said Vohra cannot be put in the lsquoNo Fly Listrsquo ldquoUnless DGCA in India issues some special direction Vohra cannot be put in the lsquoNo Fly Listrsquo and this enables him to enjoy flying with any airline other than the American Airlinesrdquo Singh saidHe further said ldquoThis incident has thrown open an interesting scenario The existing law operates differently for two set of unruly passengers It imposes a ban on the person who has urinated on a passenger on an Indian aircraft whereas no such action can be taken against another person for a similar offence on a foreignregistered planerdquo According to the DGCArsquos Civil Aviation Requirements CAR related to unruly passengers whenever a person shows unruly behaviour on board a flight the airline concerned will immediately inform DGCA within 12 hours and impose a flying ban on himher for 30 days pending investigationAlso Read American Airlines urination incident Case registered in the matter accused released say Delhi PoliceThe airline will then constitute an internal committee comprising a retired district judge and two aviation experts which will examine the level of offence for the purpose of deciding the duration of the flying ban Once the internal committee finalises its report and decides the ban period the airline will communicate the same to the DGCA The DGCA will put the person in the lsquoNo Fly Listrsquo and it is communicated to all the airlines in India so that they cannot allow the unruly passenger to fly during the ban periodldquoAmerican Airlines is under no obligation to constitute an internal committee and follow the due process Unless the due process is followed the question is how will Vohrarsquos name be included in the lsquoNo Fly Listrsquo Will the DGCA do suo moto on the basis of the FIR lodged It is an important questionrdquo advocate Akshat Bajpai who represents Shankar Mishra in an Air India urination case saidAccording to the International Civil Aviation Organisation ICAO the State of registration of the aircraft is competent to exercise its jurisdiction over offences and acts committed on board This might have helped Vohra to evade legal action in India because the American Airlines is registered with the US However Section 188 of the CrPC allows Indian law enforcement agencies to prosecute an Indian citizen for offences committed on an aircraft registered with the foreign countryAviation expert Singh said the shortcomings of the current regulations which prevent the regulators from enforcing unruly passenger rule on foreign carriers has been covered by the ICAO Montreal Protocol 2014 This protocol enables States other than the State of registration of aircraft to exercise jurisdiction over unruly passengersldquoA number of countries have either not signed the amendment or not ratified it India is the latter case It is now incumbent on ICAO to ensure that all countries ratify the amendment since an unruly passenger on board is a global concern and the numbers are rising by the dayrdquo Singh said The experts also said that besides the issue of unruly passengers there are several aviation safety related issues where the ratification of the Montreal Protocol 2014 by all countries can be extremely helpfulThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever