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Informist, Monday, Jul. 20, 2026

 

--NCLAT seeks CCI reply on plea to probe InterGlobe Aviation, Air India 

--CONTEXT: Plea seeks probe against airlines on high cancellation fee 

--NCLAT to hear plea against high cancellation fee by airlines on Aug 19 

 

NEW DELHI – The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal Monday sought the Competition Commission of India's response on a petition seeking a probe against InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., parent of the country's largest airline IndiGo, and Air India Ltd., for allegedly charging "extortionate amounts" in the name of airline ticket cancellation fees. The appellate tribunal will hear on Aug. 19 Kannadiputhur Sundararaman Suresh's appeal against the Competition Commission of India's March order to refuse a probe against the airlines.  

 

The appellate tribunal questioned the petitioner as to where was the contract in which the conditions were mentioned for the refund of airline tickets. "Show me the breach of conditions of contract. Charges will be under certain preconditions, where is that condition?" asked the appellate tribunal bench of judicial member Sharad Kumar Sharma, technical member Arun Baroka and technical member Indevar Pandey. Suresh said that the airline ticket was itself the contract between the airline and consumer. 

 

The competition regulator opposed Suresh's plea and said the appeal was not maintainable. The regulator said the petitioner has not even made InterGlobe Aviation and Air India as parties to its petition. 

 

Suresh said he had booked two tickets for an airline and on the same day, he had to cancel them as the date of travel was wrongly mentioned. For this, the airline deducted 75% of the ticket amount as cancellation charges, he said. The petitioner had argued that both the airline companies were engaging in anti-competitive practice by acting in concert that had the effect of determining the cancellation charges of air tickets. The airlines' practice of levying penal charges for ticket cancellation by a passenger was not only irrational and indiscriminate, but also unfair, abuse of dominant position and violative of the law of contract, said the petitioner.

 

Suresh said that the cancellation of tickets does not put the airline in any position worse than it was prior to the booking, and, thus, the airline does not suffer any loss on account of the cancellation. The question of loss would arise only if, as a direct result of the cancellation, the airline is prevented from selling that ticket to another potential passenger, said Suresh.

 

In March, the competition regulator said that complainant Suresh's allegation of abuse of dominance does not warrant further examination as these companies have in place a system for refund of tickets and it is possible for passengers to have substantial refundable tickets if they opt for that category of ticket. A passenger has options to select a fare that will give him the maximum or full refund depending on the airline and type of airfare selected, and time of cancellation of the ticket, amongst other factors, said the antitrust regulator. The refund and cancellation terms are disclosed to passengers in advance, it said. These are applied equally to all consumers and not in a discriminatory, unfair or exclusionary manner, it added.

 

The regulator said that the remedy of the complainant for alleged breach of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, in the present case does not lie before the Competition Commission of India. Further, dissatisfaction with a contractual term or desire for more favourable terms and conditions does not constitute violation of the Competition Act, 2002, said the commission. Challenging the antitrust regulator's order, Suresh moved the appellate tribunal.

 

At 1121 IST, shares of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. were down 1.0% at INR 5,198.50 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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