A non-government organisation has urged the Supreme Court to direct airlines and aviation regulator DGCA to immediately refund both domestic and international flyers the amount they have deducted for cancelling tickets as the Covid-19 lockdown and travel ban kicked in.

Pravasi Legal said even those who had booked tickets before the lockdown came into force should be refunded the full amount.

The NGO, which moved the court though advocate Jose Abraham, alleged in its petition that airlines were offering a “credit shell”, valid up to a year, instead of the full refund.

The NGO said this was a violation of a circular the directorate-general of civil aviation had issued in May 2008. The DGCA circular had made it clear that “the option of holding the refund amount in credit shell by the airlines shall be the prerogative of the passenger and not a default practice of the airline”.

The petition, yet to be listed, also criticised an office memorandum the civil aviation ministry had issued on April 16, which gave airlines three weeks to refund the money from the day of cancellation.

The NGO said the May 2008 circular had mandated that in case of credit card payments, the airline concerned has to refund the amount to the cardholders’ account within seven days of the cancellation.

In case of cash transactions, the refund has to be “made immediately” by the airline’s office from where the ticket had been bought, while the limit was 30 working days for tickets booked through travel agents or portals.