Empowering DGCA!

In the recent months, the Indian civil aviation industry has once again been in the news, but this time for all the good reasons. On June 15 this year, the NDA Government unveiled India’s first-ever integrated National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) 2016. The major thrust areas of the new policy are regional aviation, air cargo, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) as well as on skill development to meet the needs of the civil aviation industry. NCAP 2016 will definitely provide renewed impetus to the industry and has aptly been described as a “game changer”.

A week after the release of NCAP 2016 came the announcement that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is to get more punitive powers as the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is to send a proposal to the Ministry of Law for amendment to the Aircraft Act of 1934. The proposal from MoCA would seek to empower the DGCA to penalise airlines and airports for various offences and non-compliance of air regulations. The violations would include operating aircraft without the specified minimum number of crew members, pilots flying without a valid licence or certificate of medical fitness, not maintaining proper records, fraudulent entry in logbooks and inadequate maintenance of airports. This move by the MoCA to introduce changes in the existing law and regulations comes in the backdrop of the NCAP 2016 which stipulates, “DGCA will be authorised to impose fines and penalties depending upon the nature of violations. For this, appropriate amendments wherever required, will be carried out in acts, rules and regulations.” Under the existing regulations, the DGCA is authorised only to either suspend the operations of airlines or airports or take away their licence, but has no powers to impose fines or penalties. However, under the new dispensation, the situation is set to change hopefully leading ultimately to better air safety standards.

The DGCA is the Indian Government’s regulatory body for civil aviation placed under the MoCA. Its current vision statement is “Endeavour to promote safe and efficient air transportation through regulation and proactive safety oversight system”. In accordance with the agreement amongst all participating countries in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), DGCA is responsible for registration of civil aircraft, formulation of standards of airworthiness for civil aircraft registered in India and granting of certificates of airworthiness, licensing of pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, flight engineers and air traffic controllers, certification of aerodromes and CNS/ATM facilities, granting of Air Operator’s Certificates to Indian carriers and regulation of air transport services operating to, from, within or in Indian airspace by local and foreign operators, including clearance of scheduled and non-scheduled flights of such operators and conducting investigation into accidents and incidents.

In the year 2011, the UPA Government had initiated a process through appropriate legislation to overhaul the DGCA, giving it greater authority, including the power to regulate air fares and offering financial autonomy to an office that has been functioning as an extension of the MoCA. The aim of the exercise was to empower the DGCA by remodelling it on the lines of the Civil Aviation Authority of the United Kingdom. The new responsibilities envisioned for the empowered model of the Indian DGCA was to include air safety, economic regulation, airspace regulation, consumer protection and environmental research and consultancy. In fact, in its new avatar, the Indian DGCA was expected to have more teeth and was to be renamed as Civil Aviation Authority in conformity with the British pattern. Unfortunately, on account a number of impediments, bureaucratic or otherwise, the process remains stalled. In fact in June this year, Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju apparently drove the proverbial last nail in the coffin when he said that he saw no need to merely rename the regulator.

Despite the host of impediments, the Indian aviation sector has been growing at an impressive rate of over 20 per cent per annum. Also as the Indian aviation sector is getting increasingly integrated with the global civil aviation industry, there is definitely the need to put in place a far more empowered and effective aviation regulator in this country. The downgrading of the safety rating of the DGCA by the US Federal Aviation Administration in the recent past was a manifestation of the decades of neglect that the DGCA has suffered and it appears that the government has indeed taken it as a wake-up call. As per the Minister of Civil Aviation, an ambitious plan is being worked out to make the DGCA a more responsive and meaningful body. The government is determined to bring about change and it appears that finally the Indian civil aviation industry can look forward to an effective regulator.