Centre refutes High Court's claims, says not compromising with air passengers' safety

The Centre has refuted in Delhi High Court the claim that civil aviation authorities are overlooking the alleged violation of aircraft maintenance schedules by airlines, endangering passenger safety.

The Civil Aviation Ministry and the Director General for Civil Aviation's (DGCA) denied that various private airlines operating in the country were "violating/circumventing the mandatory provisions for airworthiness and air safety".

The submission was made before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal during hearing of a PIL alleging that aviation authorities were overlooking the prescribed maintenance schedules and sought directions to them to ensure safety of passengers on aircraft flying in and out India.

The counsel for the ministry submitted that till date they have not received any complaint regarding any deficiency in aircraft services.

It further said that the petitioner, advocate Alok Kumar, was a frequent flyer, yet he was alleging there were no safety measures in the flights.

The bench then asked the petitioner to give suggestions with regard to safety requirements in aircraft and listed the matter for further hearing on October 19.

The aviation authorities response came in view of Kumar's plea seeking direction to DGCA, the regulatory body governing aviation safety, "to formulate a procedure to systematically and periodically monitor and ensure that all airlines follow aircraft maintenance schedules prescribed by aircraft manufacturers".