The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), the union of erstwhile Indian Airlines, to file an additional affidavit with detailed information on changes made by Air India in the flight duty time limitations (FDTL).
Justice Suresh Kait, who heard briefly the submissions of senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for ICPA, asked the counsel to give more details of the alleged drastic changes made in the FDTL of the pilots.
With that directives, the judge posted the matter to October 5.
The ICPA in its petition has sought setting aside the Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh’s order asking the national carrier to immediately implement the guidelines of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) wherein it said that the pilots and cabin crew should put in more flying hours.
“There is no scope of any diktat here,” said senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi.
Mukul Rohatgi told the judge that the issue of the FDTL had been settled time and again between the airlines and pilots under the purview of the Industrial Disputes Act but, the diktat of the minister is against the law.
The pilots are not taxi drivers who can be asked to go to Gurgaon from Delhi after a long drive just to optimise the use of the workforce, the counsel said.
It was on September 11 that the minister had directed Air India to follow the DGCA guidelines on FDTL for pilots and cabin crew saying that a comprehensive analysis had warranted the change.
http://newindianexpress.com/nation/article763779.ece
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