The Madras High Court on Friday asked the Centre why very few chartered flights were being operated to Chennai under the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indians stranded abroad due to COVID-19.
Justices Vineet Kothari and R. Suresh Kumar wondered whether it was for want of sufficient number of passengers or for some other reason. The bench was hearing a petition filed by the DMK to bring back Tamils stranded abroad.
Senior counsel P. Wilson, representing the DMK, told the court that the party had been receiving distress calls and e-mails from thousands of Tamils stranded in the U.S., the U.K., the U.A.E. and many other places. The State government was reluctant to allow flights to land in Chennai, he said.
Pointing out that civil aviation was under the purview of the Centre, which arranged to evacuate Indians stranded abroad, the senior counsel contended that the State government should not be allowed to play any role in it.
He said that those who had visited foreign countries for employment, education and even as tourists had been stranded over there due to the pandemic. They could be allowed to fly back to Chennai and put on quarantine, he added.
The judges directed the Centre to file a detailed status report in a week, listing the number of Indians stranded in various countries, the number of flights operated so far and the number of flights to be operated in future.
The court wanted to know whether the Centre had provided any other relief in the form of financial help, ticket costs, food, stay and so on to Indians stranded abroad due to COVID-19.
The Division Bench directed the State government to submit a list, if any, of international flights already allowed to be landed in Chennai and other airports in the State and the number of requisitions received so far for such flights.
The government was ordered to spell out its stand, by June 19, on allowing international flights to land in Chennai and other airports in the State and whether it had apprehensions on letting passengers land here.
