Grounding Kunal Kamra is not violation of rules: DGCA

New Delhi, Jan 29: With four Indian airlines banning stand-up comic Kunal Kamra from flying with them for allegedly heckling journalist Arnab Goswami onboard an IndiGo plane, aviation regulator DGCA on Wednesday said the action by the carriers is in complete consonance with its regulations.

While SpiceJet, Air India and GoAir have banned Kamra "till further notice", IndiGo has suspended Kamra from flying with it for six months.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said, "This is to reiterate that the action taken by the airlines is in complete consonance with Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) Section-3, Series M Part VI on Handling of unruly passengers."

"Now the matter is to be referred to the internal committee as prescribed in para 6.1 of the said CAR. Further, as per para 6.4 of the CAR, the internal committee is to give the final decision in 30 days by giving the reasons in writing, which shall be binding on the airline concerned. Punishment for different type of unruly behaviour is also prescribed in the same CAR and the internal committee has to adhere to the same," it added.

The statement follows after DGCA made an official clarification on Twitter that said, HuffPost has "misquoted/misinterpreted the facts stated by DGCA in its published news item."

Earlier, as per a HuffPost report, Arun Kumar, the director general of DGCA ahd claimed that the ban announced on Kamra is a clear violation of the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR Section 3, Series M, Part Vl on "Handling of Unruly Passengers) rules revised in 2017.