The Centre informed the Delhi High Court that it had asked IndiGo to remove its senior vice president after massive flight disruptions in December last year, which were caused by poor planning.

The government said the airline was fined ₹22 crore for the lapse and several senior officials were warned to act more responsibly. The submission was made during the hearing of a plea seeking an independent judicial probe into large-scale flight cancellations that left thousands of passengers stranded during the holiday season.

IndiGo told the court that it has refunded ticket amounts for cancelled flights and will soon pay compensation to affected passengers. However, the High Court questioned the airline’s decision to issue ₹10,000 vouchers with a validity of only 12 months.

The bench asked what would happen if passengers are unable to use the vouchers within the time limit.

The court directed IndiGo to file an affidavit within two weeks explaining how it plans to compensate stranded passengers. It also took note of a sealed report submitted by aviation regulator DGCA.

Sources in the Civil Aviation Ministry said the airline’s CEO was cautioned for poor oversight, the COO was warned for failing to assess the impact of the winter schedule and revised flight duty rules, and the senior vice president handling operations was asked to step away from operational duties due to planning failures.

Warnings were also issued to other officials involved in flight operations, crew planning and roster management. IndiGo has been told to take action against any other staff found responsible and submit a compliance report to DGCA.

Earlier, the court noted that while the government had taken steps, the disruption of lakhs of passengers had a negative impact on the economy and stressed that affected passengers must be compensated.