Travel agents need to put forth their case before the Supreme Court to make the Bench conscious of the plight of travel agents while finally deciding the matter on issue of credit shells given by airlines instead of cash refunds, says Dheeraj Nair, Partner and Vishrutyi Sahni, Associate at J. Sagar Associates. “Every individual, including the Supreme Court judges are consumers to airlines. Thus, they understand the transaction between a consumer and an airline and relate to the impact of cancellations and refunds. However, non-members of the travel industry are not aware of the transaction between an airline and a travel agent and thus, cannot relate to the impact of cancellations and refunds on travel agents. Only by placing this information on record will the Supreme Court be able to understand the direct losses being faced by travel agents in case of non-refunds and consequentially enable them to order accordingly,” says the firm.