Senior citizens and persons with disabilities can soon expect better wheelchair services and other basic facilities at the airports. Bombay High Court, while hearing airport wheelchair facility-related petitions on April 22, 2025, constituted a committee. The committee will evaluate the airport services and facilities and provide recommendations to improve them for senior citizens and persons with disability.
The bench comprising Justice GS Kulkarni and Justice Advait M Sethna, appointed retired Justice Goda Raghuram, a former judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, to head the three-member committee. The other two will include a senior official from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and one other member.
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Recently, several incidents came to notice where seniors had to walk at the airport despite pre-booking a wheelchair, causing them agony, physical discomfort, and sometimes even injury. Recently, Comedian Vir Das also shared his frustration on social media over not getting a wheelchair at the airport despite pre-booking it for his wife who could not walk due to a fractured foot.
However, these petitions were different. The high court was hearing two petitions for almost a similar issue of not getting the much-needed wheelchair at the airport. One was filed by an elderly woman who suffered from acute arthritis and mobility issues. Another petition was by a 53-year-old man who also didn’t get wheelchair support at the airport.
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When DGCA tried to justify the wheelchair shortage at the airport citing the reason for over-booking, the court expressed concerns over the lack of basic facilities for seniors and persons with disability and outright rejected DGCA’s justification.
The court held that the committee would look into the concerns of the petitioners, and consult them and others, including other travellers and stakeholders before preparing their recommendations. The objective is to give recommendations to the airport authorities, service providers, and airlines to follow the norms and practice a user-friendly approach to providing services.
According to the Bar and Bench report, the court made it clear that the recommendation will not only be recommendatory, but it will finally be DGCA’s decision to consider the recommendation and apply it as per the law. Reportedly, the matter will be heard again on June 30, 2025.
