Court allows Italian ship to leave India

May 3, 2012

New Delhi, May 3: In a conditional relief to Italy, whose merchant ship was seized following the shooting to death of two Kerala fishermen by two marines on board, the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the vessel to leave India, along with the crew and the remaining marines.

But a Bench of Justices R.M. Lodha and H.L. Gokhale directed them to make themselves available whenever they were required by Indian authorities during the investigation into the shooting and prosecution of the two marines, who are in judicial custody.

Setting aside the Kerala High Court's order restraining Enrica Lexie from leaving India, the Bench directed the ship owner to execute a bond for Rs. 3 crore before the Registrar-General of the High Court as a surety for the presence of the crew and the vessel whenever required.

“In view of the clear position taken by the Kerala government that [the] vessel was not [the] object of [the] crime, nor [do the] circumstances create suspicion of offence by the vessel, the seizure of [the] vessel cannot legally stand. In view thereof, the entire reasoning given by the Division Bench of the High Court does not survive. So, the order has to go,” the Bench said.

It directed that the crew members make themselves available before the authorities within five weeks of receiving summonses or notice from Indian agencies. It also ordered that the vessel be brought before the legal authorities within seven weeks of receiving summonses or notice.

The Bench made it clear that its order would not affect the Kerala government's right to conduct the investigation and the prosecution of the two marines.

At the start of the proceedings, the Italian government said the incident was related to the affairs between two sovereign nations and assured the court that its marines would be available whenever they were required. But the Centre and the Kerala government vehemently objected to the submission, after which Italy modified its views on some issues.

The court also made it clear that it was not going into the legality of the agreement between the foreign government and the family members of the deceased fishermen.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

Comments