HC seeks Centre's stand on plea claiming Jet Airways cleared suspended pilots to fly

The Delhi High Court today sought the response of the Centre on a plea alleging that Jet Airways cleared two of its pilots to fly despite the aviation regulator, DGCA, suspending their licence for allowing unauthorised entry into the cockpit of a flight operated by them.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the DGCA, and Jet Airways seeking their stand by tomorrow on the allegation that the airline contravened orders of the aviation regulator.

A journalist, Rajneesh Kapur, made the claim in his application and alleged that one of the pilots had also undertaken a flight even though his licence had been suspended.

The plea, filed through advocate Nikhil Borwankar, also questioned the appointment of the VP (Operations), alleging that his nomination to the post had not been confirmed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

It also alleged that the Senior Vice President of Operations, a foreign national, was appointed to the post without any security clearance and it was he who had nominated the Vice President of Operations.

The application was filed in Kapur's main petition in which he alleged that Jet Airways was flouting national and international flight safety regulations by allowing unauthorised persons to travel overseas by "masquerading" as crew on a "general declaration".

The petition claimed that the general declaration, which is a declaration of the passengers, air crew and cargo, being ferried in an international flight by the flight operator, allowed people "to avoid obtaining a visa and pass undetected into foreign territory".

In support of his allegation, the petitioner cited the January 2018 incident of a Jet Airways cabin crew member being arrested by the Department of Revenue Intelligence for being in possession of contraband foreign currency worth over Rs three crore.