India, Feb. 22 -- The civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on Saturday sought a response from Air India after Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan criticised the airline's service quality on social media, saying that he was assigned a "broken and sunken seat" on flight AI436 during his journey from Bhopal to Delhi.

The minister called it "unethical" for the airline to offer broken seats to passengers and said he had hoped for improved service by Air India after its takeover by Tata.

"My impression was that Air India's service would improve after Tata took over, but it turned out to be my misconception," Chouhan said in a tweet on Saturday. "I don't mind discomfort in sitting, but it is unethical to...