A view of the Supreme Court of India (SCI) building. File.
The Supreme Court will take up on Monday, a PIL seeking regulatory guidelines to control the “unpredictable fluctuations” in airfare and ancillary charges imposed by private airlines in India.
Filed by social activist S Laxminarayanan, the PIL is listed before a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta on September 7.
Laxminarayanan has sought a robust and independent regulator that ensures transparency and passenger protection across the civil aviation sector and regulatory guidelines to control the “unpredictable fluctuations” in airfare and ancillary charges imposed by private airlines in India.
On August 17, the Centre told the Bench that it has fast-tracked the framing of rules under the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024, which aimed to modernise India’s aviation sector, and it would be finalised within three weeks. It had placed the draft rules before the bench in a sealed cover and said some final discussions were going on.
The top court had noted that Additional Solicitor General Anil Kaushik, appearing for the Centre, sought three-week time to get the draft rules finalised and place it before the court.
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On behalf of the petitioner, senior advocate Ravindra Srivastava had argued before the bench that till the time the new rules come into force, the old rules are operating. Questioning the “lack of willingness” on the part of authorities and the effectiveness of the existing mechanism, he had argued that airlines were charging exorbitant fares.
On July 13, the top court had asked the Centre to place the rules framed under the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024, before it in a sealed cover, irrespective of whether those have been placed before Parliament.
While hearing the plea on May 15, the apex court said there should be some rationalisation of airfares and asked the Centre to provide relief to flyers.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, had told the bench that the new enactment of 2024 had come into effect in January 2025 and the corresponding rules were in the process of being prepared.
On November 17, 2025, the top court sought responses from the Centre and others on the PIL.
