The Bombay high court will hear a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against Air India (AI) for overworking its pilots without regard to mandatory flying hours.
The PIL, filed by Mumbai resident Atul Vora, has asked the HC to intervene and ask the Director-General of Civil Aviation to verify whether mandatory work and rest hours are followed by the national carrier and to ensure safety of passengers, crew and the aircraft.
The litigant has relied on, among other sources, a newspaper report carried by TOI to show that civic society needs to be concerned over the manner in which Air India conducts its flights and utilizes its pilots. The safety of human life is the ultimate goal and one that cannot be compromised, the petition stresses.
The petition has been filed against the central government, DGCA, Indian Pilots' Guild and Air India. It states that despite an application under Right to Information (RTI) to verify how work hours were violated in a Tokyo flight, the airline did not reply. Several pilots have complained that they are "discouraged" from taking medical leave and are penalized by having their salaries cut if they do. The working condition creates a lot of mental trauma as they have to work overtime as well, the PIL alleged.
The PIL also says that often, the airline finds it easy to blame the pilot for any untoward incident or crash so that the airline has less liability. The grounds on which the PIL is filed are whether it is safe for the airline or crew or passengers if pilots are made to fly in fatigued conditions and in violation of flight times and duty limitation.
The limitation for domestic flights is flight time of 30 hours in seven consecutive days or 125 hours in 30 days or 1,000 hours in the preceding 12 months. For long-haul flights of nine hours or more, there has to be a rest period of 18 hours. The petitioner says a notice sent to AI through his lawyer Dipesh Siroya in July received no response.
Several pilots have complained that they are "discouraged" from taking medical leave and are penalized if they do so
Source : Timesofindia
The PIL, filed by Mumbai resident Atul Vora, has asked the HC to intervene and ask the Director-General of Civil Aviation to verify whether mandatory work and rest hours are followed by the national carrier and to ensure safety of passengers, crew and the aircraft.
The litigant has relied on, among other sources, a newspaper report carried by TOI to show that civic society needs to be concerned over the manner in which Air India conducts its flights and utilizes its pilots. The safety of human life is the ultimate goal and one that cannot be compromised, the petition stresses.
The petition has been filed against the central government, DGCA, Indian Pilots' Guild and Air India. It states that despite an application under Right to Information (RTI) to verify how work hours were violated in a Tokyo flight, the airline did not reply. Several pilots have complained that they are "discouraged" from taking medical leave and are penalized by having their salaries cut if they do. The working condition creates a lot of mental trauma as they have to work overtime as well, the PIL alleged.
The PIL also says that often, the airline finds it easy to blame the pilot for any untoward incident or crash so that the airline has less liability. The grounds on which the PIL is filed are whether it is safe for the airline or crew or passengers if pilots are made to fly in fatigued conditions and in violation of flight times and duty limitation.
The limitation for domestic flights is flight time of 30 hours in seven consecutive days or 125 hours in 30 days or 1,000 hours in the preceding 12 months. For long-haul flights of nine hours or more, there has to be a rest period of 18 hours. The petitioner says a notice sent to AI through his lawyer Dipesh Siroya in July received no response.
Several pilots have complained that they are "discouraged" from taking medical leave and are penalized if they do so
Source : Timesofindia
