Flight school grounded for ‘forging’ pilot licences, Ministry lets it fly again

New Delhi: Barely a week after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation decided to suspend operations of a high-profile pilot-training academy after its inquiry found fraud and forgery in the manner in which flight-test certificates were being issued to aspiring pilots, the Ministry of Civil Aviation stepped in and reversed the decision. This despite the police saying that the scandal has “grave security and criminal implications.”
The probe began in October last year when the Pune police moved in against the five-year-old Carver Aviation Academy in Baramati, the constituency of Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Police action came after Carver CEO Marc Carvalho — a former Air India purser — filed a complaint against his Chief Flying Instructor Captain A Taxali of financial irregularities. Taxali and three other senior employees were arrested and released on bail.
But that complaint was just scratching the surface.
For, a high-level DGCA inquiry has indicted the CEO holding him “responsible” for a sweeping range of irregularities including issuing fraudulent flight certificates to 25 pilots, forging signatures and approvals.
These pilots, who completed their training in flight schools in USA and Canada, enrolled at Carver for their “conversion tests,” needed for getting the DGCA licence to fly in India. Each of them paid Rs 3.2 lakh as fees. Now they, too, have been named as “accused” and have got show-cause notices by the DGCA which has called for their licences to be cancelled.
The DGCA’s 23-page investigation report, obtained by The Sunday Express, and submitted to the Ministry on January 4 was categorical in its indictment: It called for prompt cancellation of all approvals to the academy as well as of all licences issued to pilots, even the one issued to the Chief Flying Instructor.
Despite this, on January 11, the Ministry over-ruled the DGCA: “The investigation report has been examined along with the representation made by Carver Aviation Academy and it has been decided that suspension of flying training approval of the Academy may be revoked.” This directive, signed by Under Secretary S R Parasher ends with, “This has the approval of Honourable Minister of Civil Aviation (Praful Patel).”
When asked about the Ministry’s move to over-rule the DGCA’s findings, DGCA chief Kanu Gohain told The Sunday Express: “The DGCA investigations were done by an independent committee but when the Ministry issues us instructions to revoke the suspension of authorisation, we have to listen to their instructions.”
He added that the DGCA was taking “very serious” note of the lapses and was in the process of putting warning stickers on the licences of the pilots, many of whom are said to have already landed jobs as full-fledged pilots. The DGCA has enough reason to.
03/02/08 Ritu Sarin/Indian Express