DGCA gets SC contempt notice for ignoring safety norms
25 Feb 2013
The Supreme Court today issued a contempt of court notice to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for failing to comply with its orders to implement flight safety norms effectively.
A bench of justices P Sathasivam and J S Khehar issued the notice on a petition filed by the Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots seeking its direction to the civil aviation regulator for not bringing new civil aviation regulations (CAR) to minimise accidents caused by pilot fatigue.
The bench asked the DGCA to respond within three weeks but unusually, exempted its head from appearing personally before it.
The top court had directed the DGCA in May 2011 to expedite the process of bringing new Civil Aviation Regulations or CAR to minimise accidents caused by pilot fatigue.
The DGCA notified new regulations effective February 2012, but has not ensured their implementation by all airline operators.
The new rules mandated that airlines must take into account a pilot's 'duty time' as against just 'flight time'. This means that a pilot's duty hours would include flight time spent as a passenger to report to a port of duty.