Express Exclusive: DGCA officers ‘fudged’ papers to give free air tickets,probe ordered

The facility allows officials to fly free on any Indian airline to check for “safety of aircraft operations” on the production of certificates or ‘Aeronautical Information Circulars (AICs)’.

As per rules,said a senior DGCA official,AICs can be signed only by officers of the level of deputy director general or joint director general. However,AICs were being signed by lower-level functionaries,who would even sign for themselves,he said.

Sources revealed that not just DGCA officials but also private individuals were using this facility,with around 300 AICs being issued every month. No official record was maintained,and the actual purpose of travel was concealed.

Admitting “cases of misuse”,Director General of Civil Aviation E K Bharat Bhushan said,“We had to summon records from all the airlines since no official record existed… I have issued instructions that only joint director general-level officers will sign the certificates,with intimation given to the director general. The (civil aviation) minister had asked us to gather details of the past three years,which have been forwarded to the ministry.”

Since Bhushan’s order this year that AICs be issued only by joint director general-level officers,average monthly issuals have come down sharply to around 40.

“There could be more cases of misuse,and after detailed analysis,action will be initiated,” Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said.

A ministry official said that they were looking at around 50 DGCA officials.

While the officials also flew private airlines,Air India was their favourite.

The DGCA officials against whom an FIR has been sought include Joint Director General A K Sharan (currently under suspension),Deputy DG,Air Safety,Bir Singh Rai and T S Gopinath (under suspension). In this particular case,a relative of a DGCA official was allegedly certified as an air safety officer and flew on a forged AIC. Sharan and Rai allegedly cleared her AIC.

Samir Sahay,Chief Vigilance Officer when the request for an FIR was made, declined comment,Inspector The Lodhi Road Police Station confirmed that a complaint had been received.