Delhi HC to pass order on Sept 27 on Akasa's plea for action against pilots

The Delhi High Court is scheduled to pass an order on September 27, 2023, on a plea moved by Akasa Air against pilots who have resigned without serving the mandatory notice period. Airlines sought direction from DGCA to take action against the pilots.

The Bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora is scheduled to pass judgment on the matter on Wednesday.

In its written submissions, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated that DGCA cannot interfere in the employment agreement between the airline and the pilot which itself contains the mechanism of termination of pilots and it would be in the interest of the parties that petitioner airline complies with the mandate of the answering respondent to maintain a limited schedule if it does not have enough necessary number of pilots to maintain the operations of the flights.

DGCA opposed the Akasa Air plea in Delhi High Court stating that it categorically denies that the Petitioner Company has provided any documents or reasons to it in respect of cancellation of flights as a result of Pilots submitting their resignations.

Earlier Airlines informed the Delhi High Court that the Airline's operations have come to be gravely affected on account of flagrant breaches and violations committed by the Pilots engaged in relation to the agreements between the Airline and the Pilots.

Airlines stated that due to the sudden resignation, it will have to cancel multiple flights in September. The Court was informed also by the airlines that due to these resignations, it had to cancel numerous flights every day this month.

SNV Aviation Private Limited and its CEO Vinay Dube stated that none of the resignations tendered by the Pilots appear to have been issued on account of any legitimate or bona-fide reasons. In fact, most of the resignation emails from the Pilots do not even contain any reasons or justifications whatsoever for abandoning their service almost immediately after their resignation and without serving any notice period.

In the past few weeks, several Pilots engaged by the Airline's firm have resigned from their positions in violation of their contractual obligations. Among other things, the Pilots refused to serve the mandatory notice period of 6 (six) months under their Employment Agreements.

Plea also mentioned that a few of the resignation emails give vague and unsubstantiated reasons for the resignations. The collective mala-fides and lack of transparency from the Pilots are evident from the fact that all of the emails seek resignation to be effective immediately.