SC to hear plea of air hostesses grounded for over weight

New Delhi, Sept 19: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Friday the plea of five Indian Airlines air hostesses who were grounded for putting on excessive weight. They have approached the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court's order which upheld the airlines' policy to ground air hostesses for being overweight. Filing the petition through their advocate Arvind Shrama, the air hostesses alleged that the High Court dismissed their plea without going into the core issue. The High Court on June 4, had dismissed their petition saying that there was no unreasonableness or arbitrariness in the airlines' decision. "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 court had said. The High Court in its judgement had emphasised that the job of an air hostess being "strenuous" in nature 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. That is the reason that not only maximum limit but minimum weight limits are also prescribed," the Court had said, adding that neither anorexic nor abysmally fat people are fit for the job. "The nature of work of air hostesses is strenuous in nature and the weight check is relevant in relation to their physical fitness," the Bench said. "Statistics reveal that overweight persons face constant challenges to their emotions which include remarks from strangers, discrimination at work, lower self-esteem and poor body image," the High Court had said.

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