NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Air India to keep the middle seats occupied while operating its non-scheduled flights to bring back Indians stranded abroad up to June 6 while observing that the government should be more worried about the health of citizens rather than the health of commercial airlines.

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The Apex court has said that the national carrier will have to follow the Bombay High Court’s order directing it to follow the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s 23 March circular that said the middle-row seats will have to be kept vacant. The top court’s direction came on the Centre and Air India’s appeal against the 22 May order of the Bombay High Court.

"The Centre should seek to maintain social distancing. This shoulder to shoulder sitting is dangerous," it said. 

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde told the Centre and the Air India represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that they should be more worried about the health of the citizens rather than that of the Airline.

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(With inputs from agencies)