Only New Govt Can Clear Runway For Tata, Modiluft Proposals

The new government that will take over after the forthcoming general elections will clear proposals by Tata airlines and Modiluft to operate in the civil aviation sector, said sources in the civil aviation ministry.

The sources said that no meetings of the aircraft acquisition committee had been scheduled in the near future. The committee has not met since December 22 last year.

The committee is required to examine the proposals and recommend the grant of a no-objection certificate (NoC) and a license to operate by the ministry. Modilufts old license, the sources said, has expired and the airline is seeking a fresh no-objection certificate from the ministry.

 

The airlines would be required to get import permission from the ministry after receiving the NoC and in principle approval. Thereafter, clearances by the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) would be in line, which would require the airlines to meet several technical formalities such as checking of aircraft, engineering and maintenance facilities.

This (the clearances) cannot happen now in view of the current government position. These clearances also take considerable time. In effect, the new government will now have to clear these projects, said a senior ministry official. He added that the committees work was on hold at present.

The ministry had earlier written to the Election Commission (EC) for information on whether the aircraft acquisition committee could continue with its routine work. However, ministry sources said that no formal or written reply had been received from the EC in this regard as yet.

An EC official told Business Standard that the Commission would not be giving any firm answer on this controversial issue and that the it was just sitting over this. While admitting that the EC had received a query from the ministry, the official said that the Commission did not see any reason to get into a controversy on this subject at this moment.

The Election Commissions clarification on the issue is crucial as the airlines cannot take off until they are given licenses to operate.

This is despite the fact that both airlines have been given clearances by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

Sources said that civil aviation secretary M K Kaw has been keen to clear the projects as soon as possible and has stated that the committee be delegated with powers to clear and carry on with routine work if the concerned ministers did not wish to take decisions in this regard.

However, the ministers have ruled this out on the grounds that granting clearances to new airlines did not come under the routine work category and that if they did not have to power to take these decisions, they did not have the power to delegate it to the committee either.