DGCA clean-up: Focus shifts to officers’ kids in airlines

After RS Passi’s removal as director of the super sensitive Air Safety directorate in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), focus has shifted to other such officers who did not seek government’s approval before their children took up lucrative jobs with airlines.

After RS Passi’s removal as director of the super sensitive Air Safety directorate in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), focus has shifted to other such officers who did not seek government’s approval before their children took up lucrative jobs with airlines.

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As first reported by HT on Tuesday, Passi, the second senior-most official posted with the air safety unit, was removed from his post after DGCA chief EK Bharat Bhushan received a report from low-cost carrier SpiceJet, which stated that his daughter, Garima Passi got a job as a pilot with the airline under “extraordinary circumstances”.

“I felt it would not be appropriate for him to be associated with safety work,” said Bhushan, the man responsible for unearthing one of the biggest scams in India’s aviation history.

“There are some officers whose children are employed with airlines. That is not an offence. But prior permission has to be taken. Where such permission has not been taken, I think there are eight or nine cases, I have sought an explanation,” he added.

Meanwhile, the regulator is examining the case of a Delhi-based doctor, authorised to give pilots the mandatory medical clearance to fly, after reports that he was extorting money in lieu of issuing fitness certificates. While reports said the doctor had been suspended by US Federation Aviation Agency, sources said the DGCA was looking into the matter.