?Overweight? airhostess gets back job

Kolkata : The Calcutta High Court on Friday upheld a plea by a former Indian Airlines (now Air India) airhostess who was sacked for being overweight and ordered the national carrier to reinstate her.

A division bench of justices Pratap Kumar Ray and MK Sinha asked Air India to give the litigant, Nipa Dhar, ground duties within two months.

The airlines was also asked to pay all her dues since 2001, when she was sacked, within three months and constitute a medical board to examine her health.

Nipa Dhar had challenged her dismissal by Indian Airlines in 2001 for being overweight.

She was reportedly served a notice by the airlines in 2001 that she was 15 kgs overweight and when she had requested for a ground duty, she was handed down termination letter.

Dhar?s counsel, Madhumita Roy, submitted before the court that her client?s weight had increased after taking medicines prescribed by an airline doctor for altitude phobia.