Parl passes Bill to give statutory status to aviation regulators

New Delhi: Parliament on Tuesday passed a bill that seeks to improve India's aviation safety ratings and provide statutory status to regulatory institutions, including the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which provides for statutory backing to the DGCA, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), was passed by a voice vote in Rajya Sabha.

The bill that was passed in Lok Sabha on March 17 also entails to increase the fine for violations from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore.

Introducing the bill, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said,"The operating thrust of the bill is to provide statutory basis to these important agencies... This is necessary as we move forward with an exponential growth in civil aviation."

The amendments were necessary as tremendous growth in civil aviation has thrown many challenges such as saturated airport capacity, lack of trained manpower, limited manpower capabilities, he said, adding these are happy challenges .

Puri said the bill seeks to insert a new definition for three regulatory bodies DGCA, BCAS and AAIB, and added that they will be provided statutory recognition.

The proposed amendments follow the 2012 and the 2015 audit by the International Civil Aviation Organisation that had indicated the need to give statutory recognition to these agencies, he said.

Puri said there is a provision to raise penalty for violation from up to Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore. The last revision was made in 2007 from Rs 1,000-2000 to Rs 10 lakh.

No change has been proposed in terms of imprisonment that is at two years in most cases, he said.

DGCA, BCAS and AAIB were constituted under executive powers of the government.

Puri said in the existing set up, the Centre administers various aspects of civil aviation under the Aircraft Act, 1931, through these agencies.

Replying during a debate, he said the government in the last three years has recruited 1,000 air traffic controllers as against requirement of 3,500 such officials.

"We are very close to that number and we would have reached that number, even surpassed, if recruitment processes wouldn't have slowed down on account of COVID pandemic," he said replying to issues raised by Congress member K C Venugopal, who had earlier opposed the bill and attacked the government on its privatisation policy and other issues like air safety.

Puri said Venugopal should look at the issue of privatisation in a historical context.

The country's largest airports Delhi and Mumbai were successfully privatised in 2006 under a previous political dispensation, and proceeds from the process have resulted in getting resources to develop airport infrastructure in the country, he noted.