In yet another setback for the striking Air India pilots, a division bench of the Delhi High Court on Thursday upheld the order by a single bench that declared the agitation illegal, and said the pilots could face contempt proceedings if they did not report back for duty.
The court order is a fresh blow for the 300 on-strike pilots representing the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) after questions were raised about their resolve to continue the agitation after three pilots ended strike and joined duty on Wednesday.
According to a PTI report, the division bench said in its order: “In our view, no litigant can avail of any discretionary remedy from the court by willfully and flagrantly disobeying the orders of the court. We could have directly proceeded with the contempt of court proceedings against you, but we leave it to the single judge so that better sense will prevail on you.”
On its part, IPG said there are no contempt proceedings against them. “There are no contempt proceedings against the IPG or its pilots. We are taking all necessary steps in the matter, following due process of law towards resolving the grievances of the pilots,” said a statement from IPG.
IPG had moved the court challenging the ex-parte order of a single bench judge on May 9, which declared the strike as illegal.
The IPG-affiliated pilots are agitating against the airline’s decision to allow erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots to operate the new Dreamliner planes. IPG (it represents pilots of Air India before its merger with Indian Airlines) objected; it also wants its members’ career progression and time-bound promotions to be the same as those of pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines.
On the 10th day of the strike, Air India did not cancel any flight on Thursday as the contingency plan was fully in place. “Due to the contingency plan in place till May 20, we did not have to cancel any flight. We have also been able to clear the backlog of passengers through the contingency plan, as we are not taking bookings in the long haul sectors,” said a senior Air India official, who did not want to be identified.
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According to the plan, Air India cut its international flights by almost a half. The national carrier, which operates a schedule of over 800 flights a week, has announced that it would fly only 410 flights a week.
The airline has also lost around of Rs 180 crore in 10 days. Air India’s daily revenue is Rs 37 crore, of which international operations accounts for Rs 22 crore.
Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has announced that he will meet all the recognised unions of the airline next week. IPG, however, may not be invited as it has been derecognised.
“I am calling a meeting of all the recognised trade unions of Air India next week to discuss the career progression issues, including promotions," Singh said. Issues relating to the Dharmadhikari Committee, which has recommended several measures on human resource integration issues in the post-merger Air India, is likely to be taken up for discussion at the meeting.