The much-awaited Civil Aviation Policy to draw a roadmap for the sector will be taken up for approval by the Union Cabinet this month.
A high-level official committee recommended that it should be given a statutory basis in the form of a law.
"The draft Policy has been sent to the Cabinet Secretariat for the Union Cabinet to take it up for discussion. The process will be completed by April," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said after receiving a copy of the report of the MK Kaw Committee set up to review the functioning of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The Committee, among other things, has recommended that the Government should give the policy a statutory basis in the shape of a new Civil Aviation Act.
Asked whether the proposed legislation to set up an Aviation Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) would contradict the Kaw committee recommendation that DGCA be made the sole safety and economic regulator, Patel said new situations have arisen in the sector. "We will study these recommendations and decide on how to integrate them."
On the merger and acquisition guidelines recommended recently by the Aircraft Acquisition Committee, he said, "it is not for the government to decide who buys whom or who merges with whom.
{{/usCountry}}On the merger and acquisition guidelines recommended recently by the Aircraft Acquisition Committee, he said, "it is not for the government to decide who buys whom or who merges with whom.
{{/usCountry}}"The only thing that has to be seen is whether the entities are security cleared or not and whether they adhere to the rules and guidelines of the DGCA", he said, adding, "We will take a call based on the recommendations of the Aircraft Acquisition Committee".