DGCA slaps notice on 3 office bearers of Indian Pilots Guild

DGCA slaps notice on 3 office bearers of Indian Pilots Guild New Delhi: Aviation regulator DGCA Thursday asked three office-bearers of the de-recognised Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), leading the pilots' strike, to appear before it on Monday and explain as to why their flying licenses should not be cancelled for not joining duty.

As the strike led by the IPG entered the 25th day, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation asked the three office- bearers to appear before it on June 4 and also explain why they had not replied to the show-cause notice issued to them on May 12, official sources said.

The show-cause notices were issued by DGCA to ten sacked pilots after Air India wrote to DGCA to seek an explanation from them as to why their licenses should not be cancelled for not reporting to work. Seven of them have submitted their replies to the notice.

With Air India pilots striking over issues relating to their career progression, government is likely to announce tomorrow a roadmap for implementing measures to integrate the pay-scales and seniority issues of the staff of the two erstwhile state-run airlines.

A four-member committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge D M Dharmadhikari, had recommended several steps on various HR and industrial relations issues to integrate the employees of erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India, after their merger in 2007.

In its report submitted on January 31, the Dharmadhikari Committee had, among other things, recommended pay structure and incentives to Air India staffers in line with those of other public sector undertakings.

Official sources said Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh is likely to announce on Friday a roadmap for implementation of these recommendations, which have since been vetted by a panel of three officials.

These officials examined the Dharmadhikari Committee recommendations keeping in mind their implementability, the employees' interests, the functional viability of merged Air India, the financial implications and other aspects.

The three officials are also understood to have given an implementation schedule, indicating the priority of implementation of various recommendations.

The move by the Civil Aviation Minister comes in the wake of reports that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would soon review various policy matters relating to the aviation sector, including the problems plaguing Air India which is being given a Rs 30,000 crore package over nine years for revival.

The striking pilots have also been raising issues relating to these recommendations, including promotions linked with training on new generation aircraft like Boeing 787 Dreamliners and Boeing 777s.

In this context, the Dharmadhikari Committee had examined the principles of integration across various cadres, their seniority, principles of pay rationalisation, pensionary schemes, gratuity and other terminal benefits having financial implications.

The crucial Productivity-Linked Incentive and similar schemes were also dealt with by this committee, which tried to bring them in line with the best practices followed by other airlines and public sector units.

It also made recommendations on the restructuring and harmonised working of various categories of employees of the two erstwhile airlines depending on the new requirements of the airline industry.