Parliamentary panel on Thursday said the bill to establish an authority to regulate aviation safety is nothing more than the existing DGCA and asked Civil Aviation Ministry to draft a comprehensive law to replace a 1934 Act governing aviation.
"The proposed CAA will be as good as the existing DGCA without much addition to powers and authority. It would have been better to come out with a comprehensive Bill after revisiting the Aircraft Act 1934 which has been too old to tackle the emerging problems in the aviation sector," the Standing Committee report said
Hence, the proposed authority would "not be able to achieve the objectives" stated in the Bill, the panel said. The panel’s chief also expressed doubts whether the bill would be passed in the ongoing last session of Parliament. "The legislation needs a serious relook... It seems to have been drafted in a hurry to ensure that India is not downgraded by the US (regulator) Federal Aviation Administration. But it is very unfortunate that we have been downgraded now," Sitaram Yechury, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, told reporters after tabling a report on the bill in Parliament.
He also warned that following the FAA’s downgrade move, the aviation regulators of Britain, Australia and few other nations could follow suit. Asked whether he was optimistic that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Bill would be passed in this last session, he said "we doubt whether the Bill will see the light of the day in this session. The Ministry would have to keep a draft ready for the next Parliament."
Maintaining that the Ministry "came very unprepared", he said the Ministry would have to "at least study our recommendations" and prepare a comprehensive legislation to replace the "age-old" 1934 Aircraft Act which governs the entire civil aviation sector. The need for an independent CAA was being felt as currently the DGCA not only lays down the rules for civil aviation in India but is also mandated to conduct inquiries into its violations, as also an untoward incident or an accident, Yechury said.
The Standing Committee also found fault with the qualifications needed to become the Chairman of the CAA in the Bill, saying it would seem that only a former Civil Aviation Secretary would fulfil the requirements to head the CAA. It suggested suitable amendments to allow professionals and heads of public sector undertakings such as Airports Authority of India, who have the relevant experience and knowledge but were lower in rank than Secretary, to head CAA.
The Committee also recommended that CAA members’ term of office should be reduced to three years from the proposed five years as it would block those persons having latest training and knowledge from becoming members, particularly when the sector was growing and changing fast.