Court expands suo motu PIL to cover irregular air services to Shimla, Kullu and Kangra

Shimla, Nov. 15 -- The Himachal Pradesh High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the persistent failure of the union Government to ensure regular flight operations to the state's key airports-Shimla, Kullu (Bhuntar) and Kangra (Gaggal) and has issued notice to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Jiya Lal Bhardwaj passed the order while expanding the scope of an earlier PIL originally related to bird menace near Kangra/Gaggal Airport.

The Bench observed that despite the existence of three functional airports in Himachal Pradesh, the union Government has not made adequate arrangements to operate a sufficient number of flights. This, the court noted, has caused serious in...