DNA: Mumbai: Saturday, 05 September 2015.
The Bombay High
Court on Friday asked Air India (AI) and aviation regulator Directorate General
of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to file an affidavit regarding the procedures they
follow to verify the certificates submitted by candidates applying for
commercial pilot licenses (CPL). The development was regarding the case of an
AI pilot being accused of submitting fake Class XII certificates.
Over three
years ago, Bandra resident Dr Manisha Kanagali had accused her brother Captain
Ajay Khadtale of using fraudulent means to get a pilot license. Claiming that
Khadtale was endangering the lives of passengers, she even sought information
under the Right To Information (RTI) Act to prove that the Class XII
certificates he submitted were fake.
When dna
contacted Khadtale, he said, "All certificates submitted by me at every
juncture of my career are genuine. If the council is not able to find the
records of these certificates or if they are untraceable, is it my fault?"
During the course of two years, dna highlighted the failure of AI and DGCA in
taking any action against the captain. Finally in June this year, the court was
informed that he has been suspended from the service.
Meanwhile on
Friday, a division bench of Justice V M Kanade and Justice Shalini
Phansalkar-Joshi passed the direction after AI claimed that it was DGCA's duty
to verify the authenticity of documents. Appearing for petitioner Dr Kanagali,
advocate Indu Prakash Tripathi said, "On its part, DGCA has cancelled
Khadtale's Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL), which is meant for
commander-level pilots, and plans to cancel his CPL soon."
In another
major development in the case, Dr Kanagali submitted a list of 19 more pilots
who allegedly procured licenses after submitting fake certificates.
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