'Bhushan's letter on Kingfisher's licence cancellation never existed'

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has claimed the letter by former director-general E K Bharat Bhushan, which mentioned cancellation of Kingfisher Airlines’ licence, never existed.

“A probe in the regulator’s office yielded nothing, and no such note was found. Any piece of paper can be typed outside, but that cannot be considered a file noting. Maybe Bhushan made a copy of it. But it has not been proved it was received by anyone in DGCA. Also, there is no log in DGCA’s secretariat for the entry or exit of that July 9 note,” said a senior DGCA official.

The purported note was prepared just a day before the order for Bhushan’s removal as director-general was given.

A probe was ordered after Bhushan had sent a letter to current Director-General Prashant Sukul, seeking an investigation and alleging a note he had prepared for cancellation of Kingfisher Airlines’ licence was missing.

“There are unanswered questions — why was the note prepared just a day before Bhushan was about to exit? Moreover, when the DGCA had given a clean chit to Kingfisher, why was the issue of safety raised again?” asked an official. Bhushan did not respond to a text message seeking comment.

After Bhushan’s unceremonious exit from DGCA, various reasons, including his move to cancel the licence of Kingfisher Airlines, were discussed as probable reasons for his exit.

The civil aviation ministry had produced a letter dated May 25 that stated DGCA had given a clean chit to Kingfisher airlines. “Reference is made to the action-taken report submitted by Kingfisher Airlines, with regard to discrepancies observed. This has been examined by this office and found to be in order. However, Kingfisher must ensure the in-house system is made more proactive to ensure the discrepancies observed on safety issues do not recur. This office would carry out quarterly reviews to ensure long-term deficiencies are being addressed according to target dates,” read the DGCA letter.

Problems with Kingfisher Airlines had come to the fore in November 2011, after DGCA conducted a safety review of airlines and found shortcomings in Kingfisher, Air India and IndiGo.

Kingfisher Airlines, which is facing a severe financial crisis, has delayed staff salaries, grounded aircraft and cancelled flights.

On January 31, DGCA had issued a show-cause notice to Kingfisher on the basis of the November audit.

However, the airline provided the regulator various timelines by which it would resolve all the concerns. It had also provided a curtailed schedule that was approved by the regulator.