Delhi HC orders reinstatement of Air India pilots

On June 1, the single judge quashed Air India’s decision to terminate the services of several pilots and refusal to accept the withdrawal of their resignations

The Delhi high court on Friday ordered the reinstatement and payment of back wages to 32 pilots of Air India, and payment of back wages to another six, noting that the State cannot cast off its social responsibility when finding jobs in the private sector is a difficult proportion during the pandemic.

The terminated pilots initially moved the court in July last year seeking directions to Air India to accept the withdrawal of their resignations. (Archive)

A bench of justices Rajiv Shakdher and Talwant Singh held that the “State and its instrumentalities are expected to look at myriad aspects and not just profits”, as it dismissed Air India’s appeal against the single judge’s order directing the reinstatement of several permanent and contractual pilots, whose services were terminated last year on account of commercial slowdown in wake of the lockdown.

“The State and its instrumentalities are obliged to act as a model employer, and, therefore, cannot be seen to deprive the pilots of, the right to serve the organisation [Air India Limited], at a point in time when finding jobs in the private sector is a difficult proposition…,” the court said.

The bench also ruled that six pilots, who had accepted other offers during the pendency of the appeals, would be entitled to back wages between the date when their resignations were accepted and the date when they found alternate employment, and would not be reinstated.