Are
online travel agencies in India violating cyber law of India?
Are
online travel companies in India adopting unfair practices? These are
few of the questions that are making round these days.
These doubts and questions are arising
because of
the nebulous condition of e-commerce law of India. The e-commerce
laws in India are still evolving and e-commerce stakeholders
in
India are not aware of cyber
law due diligence in India. Neither the online travel
companies
nor the online consumers are aware of the consequences of online
transactions entered in India in an improper manner.
To further aggravate the position,
Indian cyber law
is in a poor state of condition. In fact, techno legal experts like
Praveen Dalal, managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law,
have openly suggested repealing
of the information technology act, 2000 (IT Act 2000) as it is
clearly violating civil
liberties in cyberspace.
"Personally, I believe that Indian
Cyber law is
outdated and it needs urgent repeal," Praveen Dalal said.
However, he has been suggesting
reforms for the same for the last five years. Dalal also
feels
that the Indian government is indifferent towards this much needed
requisite.
As a result, online travel companies
and other
e-commerce companies and websites are operating in India with great
disregard to the cyber law of India. Further, at times their
activities are also suspicious. For instance, many of you must have
realised that while booking air or other tickets online, the price of
tickets increases substantially suddenly within few seconds.
Numerous complaints have also been
lodged in this
regard with the online travel companies and agencies of India. The
travel portals have sidelined the issue by citing the same as a
“technical error”.
This episode has happened in addition
to the
controversial practice of selling “opaque charges” where the name
of the airline is not disclosed till the ticked is booked. Many
airlines of India have openly protested against this practice and
have either withdrawn their business completely from online travel
portals or have reduced it to the sub minimum limits.
There is an urgent need to formulate
dedicated laws
for online travel companies and agencies of India. Till then the
customers have to bear the irregularities and unfair practices on the
part of airlines and online travel companies and agencies operating
in India. However, they can take sufficient legal actions against
both airlines and online travel companies and agencies where the
situation and circumstances warrant so.
