The Supreme Court on Friday said there should be some rationalisation of airfares and asked the Centre to provide relief to flyers. A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta flagged that on the same day, one airline flying in the same sector charges a particular airfare while other charges a different airfare.”Try to give some relief to the people because of the discrepancy. On the same day, flights to the same sector, one airline charges Rs 8,000 while the other airline charges Rs 18,000 for the economy class,” the Bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre.Justice Mehta said “there should be some rationalisation (of airfares)” after the solicitor general said that a new enactment of 2024 has come into effect and the corresponding rules are in the process of consultation. Mehta said the government was not disputing the problem and is treating the issue as non-adversarial and considering all aspects.The Bench was hearing a plea filed by social activist S Laxminarayanan, who sought a robust and independent regulator that ensures transparency and passenger protection across the civil aviation sector and regulatory guidelines to control the “unpredictable fluctuations” in airfare and ancillary charges imposed by private airlines in India.Senior advocate Ravindra Srivastava, appearing for Laxminarayanan submitted that rules are already there under the Aircraft Act of 1937 but the problem is that they were not followed. Mehta agreed that old rules are in place but new ones being formulated under the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam of 2024 that came into effect in January, 2025.Srivastava said till the new rules are framed, the old rules will continue and it says that if the DGCA is satisfied that in a particular situation, the airlines are indulging in charging predatory or excessive fares, it will issue directions.”They are not issuing any directions. The rules are there, the power is there but it is a case of non-exercise of powers,” he submitted. The bench asked Srivastava to reply to the counter-affidavit filed by the Centre and recorded the solicitor general’s submission that consultation process for formulation of rules under the new regime is going on. The Bench posted the matter for hearing on July 13. On April 30, the top court pulled up the Centre for not filing its affidavit on a petition which sought regulatory guidelines to control the “unpredictable fluctuations” in airfare and ancillary charges imposed by private airlines in India. — PTI