Ministry keen to rush Civil Aviation Authority Bill

The Bill aims at creating CAA, a financially-autonomous body that will replace the DGCA

In a move that could bolster India's efforts to regain higher safety ranking from US regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the civil aviation ministry is trying to rush the amended Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Bill. The Bill aims at creating CAA, a financially-autonomous body that will replace the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

A senior ministry official said: "The Bill has been circulated for consultation. Once we receive comments, we will draft the Cabinet note after which it will be tabled in Parliament."

The Cabinet had in February this year approved amendments to the Bill for replacing the DGCA with CAA. However, the process got stalled due to declaration of Assembly elections in March.

It is not clear, however, if the Bill would be introduced in the Budget session itself. "We are making efforts to complete the process. The Budget session is on for another two weeks. If the Cabinet approval comes through, the Bill can be introduced in the current session itself," the official added.

Unlike the DGCA, which functions under the aegis of the civil aviation ministry, the proposed Authority will have administrative and financial freedom to meet the functional requirements for an effective aviation safety and oversight system.

The CAA would largely gain revenues from three sources. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) would share a proportion of air navigation service charges amounting to Rs 32 crore annually. While fees for licensing air traffic control services would bring in about Rs 40 crore a year, a surcharge of Rs 5 per passenger would be levied to pool in Rs 50 crore to the resources of the new aviation regulator. The CAA would establish a separate fund, the Civil Aviation Authority of India Fund, which would be used for all expenses of the Authority. The CAA would have a chairperson, a director-general (equivalent to a chief executive), not less than seven members but not more than nine members.

The amendments approved to the CAA Bill in February include increasing the value of monetary penalties the Authority can charge, appointment of a chairperson on part-time basis, and appointment of a joint secretary from the civil aviation ministry as government nominee on the board of CAA.

The role of CAA chairperson would now be supervisory in nature; he would preside over board meetings, but operational matters would be dealt by the chief executive or the director-general. Earlier, the draft Bill had held that the chairperson be appointed for a fixed term of five years.

In its amended version, the CAA also proposes more stringent penalties at five times the initial specified amount in the event of violations. The amended Bill, however, takes away the authority of the regulator to create posts in the proposed body and requires it to take prior approval of the government for the same.

Once established, the CAA would be financially independent and would be able to recruit flight operation inspectors (FOIs) at market-determined rates.

FAA, in audits conducted in September and subsequently in December 2013, had expressed severe concerns over the lack of full-time FOIs in the DGCA and on January 31 downgraded India to category-II in safety rankings.

The downgrade, which clubs India with countries such as Zimbabwe and Indonesia in terms of safety rankings, means that Indian carriers would not be able to increase flights to the US and additional checks will be imposed on the existing flights of Air India and Jet Airways when they land in the US. It would additionally impact code-share arrangements between Indian airlines and their American counterparts.

The DGCA has been trying to fast-track processes to meet the requirements pointed out by the FAA over the past few months and is scheduled to make a presentation before the US regulator next month. The government has already approved the creation of 75 crucial posts in the DGCA to carry out safety inspections of airlines and private charter companies. It has been decided to pay salaries to the new recruits at market-determined rates to attract talent.

Till now, the DGCA did not have any regular FOIs. So pilots and commanders were seconded from scheduled airlines to carry out these functions. These commanders and pilots were paid by the respective airlines and not by the DGCA. Hence, there were possibilities of conflict of interest, a factor which was pointed out by the FAA. The DGCA had not been able to hire full-time FOIs due to its inability to pay them market-linked salaries.

A senior official in DGCA said: "We already have 20 FOIs with us, a number that our consultant has said is enough to approach the FAA for a fresh audit. We are conducting interviews to hire another 15-20 FOIs and meet FAA officials by the end of next month for a fresh audit."