New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday restrained Air India employees in Delhi from carrying on with their strike. The High Court ordered the stay on strike on a petition filed by National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), which said that the strike by Air India employees is illegal and causing a lot of passenger inconvenience.
The Court ruled that the strike had to be discontinued and the employees cannot go on strike from May 31.
"NACIL had gone to Delhi High Court seeking restraint against the strike by the union. Court has ordered injection against the strike," said Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav.
"Delhi High Court has directed that they will not continue to go on strike or further go on strike. If they go on strike it will be contempt of Court. The strike is illegal as there was no prior notice. They called a flash strike and when a reconciliation proceeding is on no one can go on strike," added Air India lawyer Lalit Bhasin.
The Court will hear the case on July 13.
Around 20,000 employees, including engineers, went on a nationwide flash strike on Tuesday to protest Air India's gag order -- a circular prohibiting union leaders from going public with their demands, according to Union leaders. The demands included issues relating to payment of salaries.
Air India had earlier moved the Bombay High Court seeking a direction restraining its employees from continuing their strike.
However, the vacation bench of the Bombay High Court, comprising Justices SJ Kathawala and RG Ketkar, declined to grant relief in the absence of the other party.
Flights cancelled
About 140 flights have been cancelled so far on Wednesday. Those comprise IC 817 Ahmedabad, IC 942 Hyderbad-Tirupati, IC 165 Mumbai, IC 406 Varanasi Khajuraho, IC 167 Mumbai 9 am, IC 889 Guwahati-Imphal @ 10.45 am, IC 441 Lucknow @ 8.05 am, IC 869 Raipur-Nagpur @ 5.50am.
The international flights cancelled are IC895 to Dubai, IC 413 to Kathmandu, AI 480 to Singapore, AI 891 to Jeddah and IC 896 Delhi-London.
In Chennai some passengers are being accommodated on Kingfisher and Jet flights but the majority of them are just stranded. There is a lot of chaos and confusion at the IGI airport in Delhi. In Mumbai, there are huge queues outside all private airline ticket counters. Close to 80 flights have been cancelled in Mumbai alone. All the flights that fly the 777 will not be affected but all IC have been cancelled.
"I have to travel to Udaipur for a wedding. I think it is the duty of the airline to reimburse all the passengers and pay for the difference," a passenger says in Mumbai.
However, not a single airport where the list of cancelled flights has been put up. In fact, the Air India reiterates that all flights have not been cancelled.
(With inputs from PTI)
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