New Delhi:
Air India, which is already struggling with cash crunch, has run into fresh trouble. The Central Information Commission, acting on an RTI query, has directed the national carrier to provide details of who ordered the change of one of its aircraft on a Bangalore-Male flight last year.
Media reports said that in April 2011, a bigger plane was pressed into service by Air India on the Bangalore-Male route, apparently because the then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's family had to travel business class and there were not enough business class seats in the smaller aircraft that used to ply on that route.
Reacting on these reports, Mr Subhash Agarwal had filed an RTI petition last year asking for details of who ordered the aircraft change as well as who the passengers on the special flight were.
But Air India refused to give the passenger list saying those details were confidential. They also cited commercial interests. Mr Agarwal then went to the Information Commission and argued his case and the CIC ruled in his favour saying the public interest outweighed the commercial interest that Air India needed to protect.
The CIC has also asked the airline to provide the information within 10 days of receiving the order. But it remains to be seen if the national carrier complies with the order or challenges it in court, as per the law.