The petition questioned whether the Montreal Convention, incorporated into Indian laws by the Carriage by Air (Amendment) Act 2009, imposes on AI a minimum liability of one lakh Special Drawing Rights (SDR) (equivalent to Rs 70 lakh) per passenger in the event of death in an air accident. The SDR is a special currency issued by the International Monetary Fund.
It further said that a single judge’s conclusion that AI has to pay one lakh SDRs to each of the victim’s relatives was ‘totally inconsistent’ with and contrary to relevant statutory provisions in the convention and incorporated in the Third schedule to the Act, 1972.
As such, it was inconsistent with and contrary to the application of this treaty by its sister signatories, AI said in the appeal. The appellant stated that the liability of an air carrier for the death of a passenger, consequent to an air accident, is governed by the amended Carriage by Air Act, to the exclusion of all other laws in India.
