The DGCA Muddle

There was no forward movement in the process of investigation into the scams, as the MoCA had been sitting on the Chief Vigilance Officer’s report. It is now understood that the report has finally been referred to the Central Vigilance Commission.

Since the beginning of last year, the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The fact that corruption had eroded the vitals of this organisation was not a closely-guarded secret and albeit never formally acknowledged by the officialdom, was known to all and sundry. Those who bore the brunt of corruption in this organisation were the majority of starry-eyed, hapless and innocent boys and girls who aspired to reach the sky but had no relatives in the organisation. Those who exploited the malaise for personal gain were children and relatives of the officials of the organisation, the officials themselves and the middlemen, also referred to as ‘touts’. These unscrupulous individuals in direct connivance with the officials in the DGCA ruled the roost. It was not mandatory for candidates related to officials in the DGCA to meet the eligibility criteria for grant of flying license and even the rule about prior clearance by the government for their employment, was blatantly flouted.

The misdeeds of the officials of DGCA having reached a point where these could no longer be concealed or contained descended as a cloud burst upon the public domain, early in 2011. A large number of cases of individuals obtaining commercial pilot licence (CPL) and even airline transport pilot licence (ATPL) on the basis of forged documents related to passing of examinations, were detected to have been effected through active collaboration between middlemen and the officials of the DGCA, both amongst the senior functionaries and lower echelons of supervisory and clerical staff. Chief Flying Instructors at some flying training institutions were found to have overlogged flying hours or issued flying certificates without even flying a single hour. A flying licence was available for a price, believed to be in the region of   Rs. 7,00,000 for a CPL and proportionately higher sum for an ATPL and possibly even home delivered. Some of these pilots were and possibly still are flying as Commanders in the different carriers in the country, both in the public and private sectors, with serious implications for air safety. A number of pilots, officials of the DGCA, including senior functionaries and few middlemen were arrested and charged by the State Anti Corruption Bureau and the Delhi Police.