New Delhi, Mar 4: The Delhi High Court allowed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA)to take over the charge from the private airlines and handle the ground services at the airports across the country on their own as the security of the passengers is paramount.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan dismissed the petition filed by private airlines challenging the DGCA's decision to take over the charge of ground handling which was earlier being done by them from and was now suddenly changed.
Dismissing the airlines plea, the court said, "We perceive no merit in the plea and accordingly the writ petition and all the interim applications stand dismissed." The airlines pleaded that till now all the arrangements of ground handling of passengers including trolley services, baggage handling were being done by them but suddenly the DGCA took over all services citing security concerns, the petitioner, Association of Airlines said.
"The DGCA has invited tenders for these arrangements from vendors but have not considered airlines to participate in the bid. we have invested crores of rupees on trolleys, conveyor belts etc but now the DGCA has taken over the job from us leaving thousands of employees jobless, the Association said.
The court, however, accepted the Centre's plea which said that since the new airports have been privatised and all the ground arrangements have been outsourced to professionals of various fields and taking into consideration the security and safety concern of the passengers all arrangements have to be passed on to various professionals.
The court directed that the employees working for ground arrangements earlier should be retained and should be given suitable employment for other purposes.
Earlier, the court had allowed the airlines to restrain their ground handling staff from 13 security-related functions including access to aircraft, screening of baggages and aircraft security search and they be put to use for other purposes. (UNI)
Dismissing the airlines plea, the court said, "We perceive no merit in the plea and accordingly the writ petition and all the interim applications stand dismissed." The airlines pleaded that till now all the arrangements of ground handling of passengers including trolley services, baggage handling were being done by them but suddenly the DGCA took over all services citing security concerns, the petitioner, Association of Airlines said.
"The DGCA has invited tenders for these arrangements from vendors but have not considered airlines to participate in the bid. we have invested crores of rupees on trolleys, conveyor belts etc but now the DGCA has taken over the job from us leaving thousands of employees jobless, the Association said.
The court, however, accepted the Centre's plea which said that since the new airports have been privatised and all the ground arrangements have been outsourced to professionals of various fields and taking into consideration the security and safety concern of the passengers all arrangements have to be passed on to various professionals.
The court directed that the employees working for ground arrangements earlier should be retained and should be given suitable employment for other purposes.
Earlier, the court had allowed the airlines to restrain their ground handling staff from 13 security-related functions including access to aircraft, screening of baggages and aircraft security search and they be put to use for other purposes. (UNI)
