New Delhi, Sept. 19 (PTI) The Supreme Court today said five air hostesses of the erstwhile Indian Airlines, who had been grounded for being overweight, could fly again if it finds “merit” in their plea.

A bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and Aftab Alam issued a notice to Indian Airlines (now Air India) on a petition challenging a Delhi High Court order that upheld the airlines’ move to dismiss them from service.

Advocate Arvind Sharma, appearing for the air hostesses, said the high court had turned down their plea without going into the core issue.

The petition also opposed the airlines’ circular through which it had withdrawn a relaxation in terms allowing air hostesses to weigh 3kg above the upper limit laid down for cabin crew.

The counsel said the airline’s deputy general manager did not have the power to issue the termination order as the Air Corporation Act, 1953, and its rules stand repealed.

The rules prescribe different weight limits according to height and age. For an 18-year-old air hostess who is 152cm tall, the maximum weight permissible is 50kg while for air hostesses in the age group of 26 to 30 and with a height of 152cm, the weight limit is 56kg.

The bench asked the airlines to respond within four weeks and posted the matter for further hearing after six weeks.

The air hostesses contended that there was no connection between weight and performance when one is medically fit. Weight is not a criterion for fitness, their petition said.

The high court had on June 4 dismissed the air hostesses’ petition, saying: “Grace and concessions are not matters of legal right. They are matters of policy and we do not find any illegality in the decision.”

The high court had emphasised that because the job of an air hostess was “strenuous”, one needed to be physically fit. “The air crew has to be athletic to deal with any emergency and for that, he or she has to be in good shape,” the court had said.