A Bad Idea

As self-serving ideas go, there won't be many which surpass this. In business the risk of default is always there. Banks, for example, routinely find themselves being owed crores of rupees. They do not, however, insist that their clients buy all their equipment or that they won't lend money if the client leases more than half his equipment. Likewise other suppliers, whether of money or services or goods. So what makes the government so different?

One is simply that it alone has the power to make rules. So some, at least, of its members feel that they can make any old rule as long as it meets their needs, never mind those who are afected by them. Another reason is the insufficient understanding of the way business works, whether airlines one or any other. So rules are devised which don't get keep business realities in mind. For instance, what would happen to the costs of the private airlines if they were forced to purchase half their fleet? Would they get the necessary permissions in time and without having to pay bribes? Are aircraft available on demand as they are in the leasing business? What would owned-assets mean for the balance sheets? Will the change bankrupt some airlines? One wonders if these and related questions have been asked by those who have mooted the idea. Or has it been floated merely in order to place a cat amongst the pigeons?

 

That said, the problem does remain: how can the recurrence of what happened with the likes of ModiLuft and East-West, both of which have shut down operations owing several crores to the customs and civil aviation departments, be prevented? And the short answer is that it cannot. One can justifiably ask of the customs and civil aviation authorities: why did you let the dues mount? The customs officials could have collected the money when the aircraft entered India, as they do with others and the airport and navigation charges could have been collected in cash prior to take-off . This has been done in the past, so why was an exception made in the case of ModiLuft and East-West? The answers will be rivetting.