THE CARRIAGE BY AIR ACT, 1972

THE CARRIAGE BY AIR ACT, 1972

Title : THE CARRIAGE BY AIR ACT, 1972  Year : 1972  Act : THE CARRIAGE BY AIR ACT, 1972.ACT NO. 69 OF 1972.[19th December, 1972.] An Act to give effect to the Convention for the unification of certain rules relating to international carriage by air signed at Warsaw on the 12th day of October, 1929 and to the said Convention as amended by the Hague Protocol on the 28th day of September, 1955 and to make provision for applying the rules contained in the said Convention in its original form and in the amended form (subject to exceptions, adaptations and modifications) to non-international carriage by air and for matters connected therewith. 1.Short title, extent and commencement. 1. Short title, extent and commencement. (1) This Act may be called the Carriage by Air Act, 1972.(2) It extends to the whole of India. (3) It shall come into force on such date 1* as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint. 2.Definitions. 2. Definitions. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (i) "amended Convention" means the Convention as amended by the Hague Protocol on the 28th day of September, 1955; (ii) "Convention" means the Convention for the unification of certain rules relating to international carriage by air signed at Warsaw on the 12th day of October, 1929.3.Application of Convention to India. 3. Application of Convention to India. (1) The rules contained in the First Schedule, being the provisions of the Convention relating to the rights and liabilities of carriers, passengers, consignors, consignees and other persons, shall subject to the provisions of this Act, have the force of law in India in relation to any carriage by air to which those rules apply, irrespective of the nationality of the aircraft performing the carriage. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 15-5-1973, vide Notification No. S. O. 170 (E), dated the 23rd March, 1973, Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3 (ii), p. 535.82.(2) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, certify who are the High Contracting Parties to the Convention, in respect of what territories they are parties and to what extent they have availed themselves of the provisions of rule 36.in the First Schedule and any such notification shall be conclusive evidence of the matters certified therein. (3) Any reference in the First Schedule to the territory of any High Contracting Party to the Convention shall be construed as a reference to all the territories in respect of which he is a party. (4) Any reference in the First Schedule to agents of the carrier shall be construed as including a reference to servants of the carrier. (5) Every notification issued under sub-section (2) of section 2.of the Indian Carriage by Air Act, 1934 (20 of 1934) and in force immediately before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have been issued under sub-section (2) of this section and shall continue to be in force until such notification is superseded. 4.Application of amended Convention to India. 4. Application of amended Convention to India. (1) The rules contained in the Second Schedule, being the provisions of the amended Convention relating to the rights and liabilities of carriers, passengers, consignors, consignees and other persons, shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have the force of law in India in relation to any carriage by air to which those rules apply, irrespective of the nationality of the aircraft performing the carriage. (2) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, certify who are the High Contracting Parties to the amended Convention and in respect of what territories they are parties, and any such notification shall be conclusive evidence of the matters certified therein. (3) Any reference in the Second Schedule to the territory of any High Contracting Party to the amended Convention shall be construed as a reference to all the territories in respect of which he is a party. (4) Any reference in the Second Schedule to agents of the carrier shall be construed as including a reference to servants of the carrier. 5.Liability in case of death. 5. Liability in case of death. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855 (13 of 1855) or any other enactment or rule of law in force in any part of India, the rules contained in the First Schedule and in the Second Schedule shall, in all cases to which those rules apply, determine the liability of a carrier in respect of the death of a passenger. 83.(2) The liability shall be enforceable for the benefit of such of the members of the passengers family as sustained damage by reason of his death. Explanation.--In this sub-section, the expression "member of a family" means wife or husband, parent, step-parent, grand-parent, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, child, step-child, and grand-child: Provided that in deducing any such relationship as aforesaid any illegitimate person and any adopted person shall be treated or being, or as having been, the legitimate child of his mother and reputed father or, as the case may be, of his adopters. (3) An action to enforce the liability may be brought by the personal representative of the passenger or by any person for whose benefit the liability is under sub-section (2) enforceable, but only one action shall be brought in India in respect of the death of any one passenger, and every such action by whomsoever brought shall be for the benefit of all such persons so entitled as aforesaid as either are domiciled in India or not being domiciled there express a desire to take the benefit of the action. (4) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (5), the amount recovered in any such action, after deducting any costs not recovered from the defendant, shall be divided between the persons entitled in such proportion as the Court may direct. (5) The Court before which any such action is brought may, at any stage of the proceedings, make any such order as appears to the Court to be just and equitable in view of the provisions of the First Schedule or of the Second Schedule, as the case may be, limiting the liability of a carrier and of any proceedings which have been or are likely to be commenced outside India in respect of the death of the passenger in question. 6.Conversion of francs. 6. Conversion of francs. Any sum in francs mentioned in rule 22.of the First Schedule or of the Second Schedule, as the case may be, shall, for the purpose of any action against a carrier, be converted into rupees at the rate of exchange prevailing on the date on which the amount of damages to be paid by the carrier is ascertained by the Court. 7.Provisions regarding suits against High Contracting Parties whoundertake carriage by air. 7. Provisions regarding suits against High Contracting Parties who undertake carriage by air. (1) Every High Contracting Party to the Convention or the amended Convention, as the case may be, who has not availed himself of the provisions of the Additional Protocol thereto, shall, for the purposes of any suit brought in a Court in India in accordance with the provisions, of rule 28 of the First Schedule, or of the Second Schedule, as the case may be, to enforce a claim in respect of carriage undertaken by him, be deemed to have submitted to the jurisdiction of that Court and to be a person for the purposes of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908). 84.(2) The High Court may make rules of procedure providing for all matters which may be expedient to enable such suits to be instituted and carried on. (3) Nothing in this section shall authorise any Court to attach or sell any property of a High Contracting Party to the Convention or to the amended Convention. 8.Application of Act to carriage by air which is not international. 8. Application of Act to carriage by air which is not international. (1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, apply the rules contained in the First Schedule and any provision of section 3 or section 5 or section 6 to such carriage by air, not being international carriage by air as defined in the First Schedule, as may be specified in the notification, subject, however, to such exceptions, adaptations and modifications, if any, as may be so specified. (2) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, apply the rules contained in the Second Schedule and any provision of section 4 or section 5 or section 6 to such carriage by air, not being international carriage by air as defined in the Second Schedule, as may be specified in the notification, subject, however, to such exceptions, adaptations and modifications, if any, as may be so specified. (3) Every notification issued by the Central Government under section 4 of the Indian Carriage by Air Act, 1934 (20 of 1934) and in force immediately before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have been issued under sub-section (1) and shall continue to be in force until such notification is superseded. 9.Repeal. 9. [Repeal.] Rep. by the Repealing and Amending Act, 1978 (38 of 1978, s. 2 and Sch. I. CHAPTER I SCOPE--DEFINITIONS 1. (1) These rules apply to all international carriage of persons, luggage or goods performed by aircraft for reward. They apply 85.also to such carriage when performed gratuitously by an air transport undertaking. (2) In these rules, "High Contracting Party" means a High Contracting Party to the Convention. (3) For the purposes of these rules, the expression "international carriage" means any carriage in which according to the contract made by the parties, the place of departure and the place of destination, whether or not there be a break in the carriage or a transhipment, are situated either within the territories of two High Contracting Parties, or within the territory of a single High Contracting Party, if there is an agreed stopping place with a territory subject to the sovereignty, suzerainty, mandate or authority of another Power, even though that Power is not a party to the Convention. A carriage without such an agreed stopping place between territories subject to the sovereignty, suzerainty, mandate or authority of the same High Contracting Party is not deemed to be international for the purposes of these rules. (4) A carriage to be performed by several successive air carriers is deemed, for the purposes of these rules, to be one undivided carriage, if it has been regarded by the parties as a single operation, whether it has been agreed upon under the form of a single contract or of a series of contracts, and it does not lose its international character merely because one contract or a series of contracts is to be performed entirely within a territory subject to the sovereignty, suzerainty, mandate or authority of the same High Contracting Party. 2. (1) These rules apply to carriage performed by the State or by legally constituted public bodies provided it falls within the conditions laid down in rule 1.(2) These rules do not apply to carriage performed under the terms of any international postal Convention.