Pilots drag DGCA to court on notice period issue; call it forced labour

Move follows DGCA's proposal to raise notice period from six months to a year

Under current norms pilots are required to give six months notice before changing an airline, DGCA proposed to change it to 1 year. Photo: Shutterstock

Pilots’ unions have moved the Bombay High Court against the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA’s) draft proposal to increase notice period, from six months to a year.

The petition, filed jointly by Indian Pilots Guild and National Aviators Guild, was mentioned in the court on Tuesday and will come for hearing next Tuesday.

The legal action comes within days of a spat between pilots and the civil aviation regulator over the issue.

Under current norms pilots are required to give six months notice before changing an airline. The regulator has proposed to increase this term to a year.

In the petition, the unions have pointed out that the notice period required to be given by pilots is a contractual issue between them and the airline, and claimed that rules do not empower the DGCA to revoke a licence of a pilot for non-compliance of notice period.

The unions have said that even with six months notice, it is “exceptionally difficult for pilots to obtain fresh employment”, as other airlines are not willing to wait for such a long period and that extension from six months to a year is unreasonable and unjust. “With a one-year notice period it will be virtually impossible for a pilot to leave one employment and join another and will be tantamount to forced labour,” the petition said.

Pilots have claimed that the move has been initiated by the DGCA at the behest of airlines which want to cut wage bills and maximise profits. The pilots want the court to restrain the regulator from finalising the proposal.

Joint Director General of DGCA Lalit Gupta told media last week “It is a draft proposal which has been issued for public comments with the approval of the civil aviation ministry. “ I have no vested interest in that proposal,” Gupta said.DGCA