NGT cancels plea against banning spray

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has junked a plea by no-frills carrier IndiGo against its order banning the spray of disinfectants in aircraft loaded with passengers.

A bench, headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, said the tribunal has already rejected the plea after noting that none of the respondents was able to show that such a spray is not injurious to human health.

“It is clear that the prayer made in the present application is in the nature of review which has already been rejected. The observation while rejecting review cannot in any manner be treated as permission to seek review by changing the label. Any order which may now be passed by this tribunal accepting such prayers will be in conflict with the order passed on August 3, 2015. Accordingly, this application is dismissed,” the bench said.

The budget airline had sought modification of an August 3, 2015 direction to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to ensure that no disinfectant fumigation is carried out inside a plane when anyone is inside.

The petition was filed after the NGT in June last year refused to modify its direction banning spraying of disinfectants in aircraft when passengers are on board, saying there was no “apparent error” in its earlier order.

The tribunal had declined to review its August 2015 order and junked the submission that spraying of permethrin insecticide in the plane while the passengers are on board does not cause harm to human health.