Delhi HC Shields Akasa Air from Recruitment Scams, Orders Domain & Number Blocks

A single-judge Bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora passed an order in a commercial suit filed by SNV Aviation, holding that a prima facie case of misrepresentation, deception, and passing off had been established against the defendants.

In its order, the Delhi High Court recorded that the defendants were "approaching unwary members of the public, falsely representing that they are offering employment on behalf of the plaintiff (Akasa Air), and demanding 'process fees' for such employment," even though the airline follows no such recruitment practice.

"The acts clearly amount to misrepresentation, deception, and passing off," Justice Arora observed, adding that the balance of convenience lies in favour of the plaintiff and that continued fraudulent activity would cause "irreparable injury which cannot be adequately compensated in terms of money".

As per the suit, SNV Aviation has been operating under its well-known trademarks, including "AKASA" and "AKASA AIR", since 2021, with sales running into thousands of crores. For the financial year 2024-25 (till date), its external turnover stood at Rs 4,582.7 crore.

The plaintiff claimed the defendants were allegedly colluding to run job scams by impersonating the airline, using deceptively similar marks such as "AKASHA" and "AKAASA", registering infringing domain names, and contacting job seekers through calls and emails to extract money.

Observing that the injunction was also necessary to protect the general public, the Delhi High Court said it was "just and necessary to grant an injunction restraining the defendants from continuing such fraudulent activities". Pending further hearing, it restrained the defendants from using the airline's trademarks or any deceptively similar marks on offer letters, email addresses, domain names or other material.

It directed domain registrars, including GoDaddy and Hostinger, to suspend and lock infringing domain names. The Delhi High Court further ordered the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to ensure disclosure of KYC details and blocking of mobile numbers used in the alleged scams.

The National Payments Corporation of India and concerned banks were also directed to disclose KYC details and block specified bank accounts and UPI IDs linked to the defendants.

Justice Arora directed compliance with its directions within one week and listed the matter before the Joint Registrar on February 3, 2026, and before the Bench on May 22, 2026.

- IANS