In a PIL concerning pilot duty hours and passenger safety, the Bombay High Court disposed of the petition by accepting the affidavit filed by the respondent authority stating that the petitioner's reliance was on superseded rules and the Director General had granted no waivers.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION
PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION NO.21 OF 2012
Atul Vora ...Petitioner
vs.
Union of India & Ors. ...Respondents
...Respondents
None for the Petitioner
Ms Neeta Masurkar a/w Mr.Dushyant Kumar for the
respondent Nos.1 and 2.
Mr.S.K.Talsania, Senior Counsel a/w Mr.Sandeep
Dasgupta for respondent No.4
CORAM : A.S.OKA, &
A.A.SAYED,JJ.
DATE : JULY 27, 2016
P.C.:
1On 20th July 2016 none appeared for the
petitioner. Even today none appears for the
petitioner. The prayers (a) to(c) of this petition
read thus:
“(a)that this Hon'ble Court be pleased to
issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the
nature of mandamus or any other appropriate
writ, order or direction thereby calling for
the records relating to verify the change
sanctioned by Respondent No.2 in mandated
working hours of Pilot and crew members and
after examining the legality and validity of
the impugned actions, be pleased to declare
the same as illegal null and void and subject
to verification of record appropriate enquiry
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2
be initiated against all responsible person
for misrepresentation to the Respondent No.3;
(b)that this Hon'ble Court be pleased to
issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the
nature of mandamus or any other appropriate
writ order or direction thereby directing the
Respondents to take appropriate steps to
ensure safety of the passengers and not to
create conditions in any manner which
endanger and or put a question mark in
respect to the safety issue concerned with
the lives of the passengers on board as well
as lives and properties on the ground;
(c)that the Hon'ble Court be pleased to issue
a writ of mandamus or a writ in the nature of
mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order
or direction to the Respondent No.4 herein to
clear off the pending dues of the members of
the Respondent No.3 in the interest of
safety;”
2In response to the prayers, there is an
affidavit filed by Shri Mukesh Verma S/o Ram Awtar
Verma, the Assistant Director of Operations in the
O/o Dy.Director General of Civil Aviation (WR), Old
Airport, Kalina, Santacruz (East), Mumbai. As
pointed out in the said affidavit, the petition is
based on the Articles published in the newspapers.
It is pointed out in the affidavit that the
requirements mentioned by the petitioner as per
AIC/28/1992 are no longer effective. It is pointed
out that the Civil Aviation Requirements (section 7
3 ospil21
of series J Part III) were issued on 11th August
2011 which deal with the flight and duty time
limitations and rest requirements of flight crew in
air operations. In paragraph 5, it is reiterated
that the requirements mentioned by the petitioner as
per (AIC) 28/1992 are no longer effective. In
paragraph 8, it is stated that the Director General
of Civil Aviation has not granted any waiver to the
Pilots of Air India from the flight and duty time
limitations and rest requirements mentioned in the
Civil Aviation Requirements issued on 11th August
2011.
3In view of this statements made by Shri Mukesh
Verma, the Assistant Director of Operations in the
O/o Dy.Director General of Civil Aviation (WR),
Mumbai, no relief can be granted in this PIL.
Accordingly, by accepting the statements mentioned
in the affidavit, PIL is disposed of.
(A.A.SAYED,J.)
1 issue framed by the court
Whether the Court should issue writs mandamus regarding pilot working hours and flight safety conditions after accepting the affidavit submitted by the Civil Aviation authority.
2 provisions across 2 enactments
Atul Vora
Union of India
Director General of Civil Aviation
Air India
A.S. OKA
A.A. SAYED
As recorded by the court registry
Litigation brought on behalf of the public interest rather than a personal grievance, relaxing the usual rule of locus standi.
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court