Air India pilots' body mulls legal action against suspension of pilot in ‘pee-gate’ case
1 min read . Updated: 21 Jan 2023, 05:35 PM IST
PremiumThe Directorate General of Civil Aviation had recently suspended the license of the pilot-in-command of the flight for three months.
The Air India pilots' body IPG is mulling legal action against the suspension of a pilot in connection with the recent urination case. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had recently suspended the license of the pilot-in-command of the flight for three months. The watchdog has also slapped a fine of ₹3 lakh on Air India's Director of in-flight services for failing to discharge her duties and imposed a fine of ₹30 lakh on Air India.
"We are considering all options, including taking legal action for the pilot's license suspension. We are talking to our lawyers on the issue and will soon take a call," a senior member of the Indian Pilots Guild told news agency PTI on the condition of anonymity.
The IPG member contended that the pilot had acted maturely, noting that the details had “all been reported to the company at that time". He alleged that there was a lot of "pressure to find a scapegoat in the entire case.
This is incidentally the first time that DGCA has penalised an airline for unruly passenger behaviour onboard a flight.
The incident in question took place on November 26 last year, coming to the DGCA's notice at the beginning of January. According to reports however, Air India's senior management was informed about the urination incident hours after the flight landed on November 26.
Emails accessed by news agency ANI indicate that the the Air India cabin crew supervisor had sent out emails on November 27 at around 1 pm to the head of the Inflight Service Department and other relevant officials. The mail containing the 'brief summary' of the incident was also acknowledged with a reply of "Ok, Noted," at 3.47 hours.
The top management at Air India had previously claimed that they were not informed about the incident after the flight landed, which led to the accused Shankar Mishra walking away without any apprehension or action against him.
(With inputs from agencies)
