Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Kerala HC upholds Centre’s penalty on Maldivian flag carrier

Kochi: The Kerala high court on Monday upheld the Centre's decision to impose a penalty on Maldivian, the flag carrier of Maldives, for violating visa norms while transporting seven Maldivians to Thiruvananthapuram.
Considering two petitions filed by Island Aviation Services Ltd (IASL), whose airline division is named Maldivian, justice A Muhamed Mustaque upheld the decision of Ministry of Home Affairs to impose penalty in two cases but allowed reduction of penalty in one of the cases.
A penalty of Rs1 lakh each was imposed on the airline operator for transporting four passengers in one of the cases while a similar penalty was sought to be levied for flying in three passengers in another case. Thus, a total penalty of Rs7 lakh was to be paid by the airline company for violating the provisions of Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act, 2000 in transporting the seven passengers.
The passengers had violated the norm that Maldivians can visit India without a visa for a short period of up to 90 days in six months if they have valid passports.
04/01/16 Mahir Haneef/Times of India
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