Hire people with technical background to head DGCA, says US Federal Aviation Authority

NEW DELHI: The US aviation regulator has asked Indian authorities to hire people with technical background at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the local regulator which has typically been headed by a senior civil service official. A delay in meeting the demand could potentially hamper India’s prospects of getting back the top rating by the most powerful aviation authority in the world.

The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) wants the director-general as well as other key officials of the Indian aviation regulatory body to have technical knowledge of the sector.
The Federal Aviation Authority conveyed its demand to India’s civil aviation ministry at the end of an audit conducted this week, a DGCA official said. A written response to the demand will be sent later, he said.

FAA downgraded India to a Category II market in January last year citing two key concerns: lack of training for DGCA officials and shortage of full-time flight operations inspectors on the regulator’s rolls. If the country continues to remain there, it could hamper Indian airlines’ services to the US and other countries that follow FAA standards, as well as their ability to form codeshare tie-ups with foreign carriers.

In an email response to ET’s queries, FAA said non-compliance with International Civil Aviation Organisation standards will lead to continuation of the Category II rating, but didn’t give a direct reply to whether appointment of technocrats is a condition to upgrade the rating. “FAA has no comment about the DGCA position. Non-compliance with ICAO standards puts a country in Category II,” it said.

Notably, an ICAO audit in 2010 had also raised concerns over DGCA’s technical expertise. “Not just the director-general but also various officials in other departments are hired through the normal government recruitment procedure and are not mandated to have a technical background,” said the DGCA official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

‘CONCERNS RESOLVED’

The last technocrat to head DGCA was Kanu Gohain, who retired in 2008. The current director-general, M Sathiyavathy, is a 1982-batch IAS officer who previously held positions such as assistant secretary and adviser at the civil aviation ministry and chief secretary in Pondicherry. DGCA though has several joint director-generals who have a technical background. The aviation regulators in the US and Europe are all headed by technical experts.

Aviation Secretary V Somasundaran didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Meanwhile, the DGCA official said the concerns raised by FAA while downgrading Indian aviation have now been resolved.

An FAA team visited India in December and audited eight critical areas of India’s safety oversight system, such as aviation legislation, operating regulations, systems and functions, availability of technical personnel and their training, licensing and certification, and resolution of safety issues.

The audit that was done this week was a follow-up to the December review. “While FAA has not found any major concern, it has raised concerns over nontechnical appointments,” said the official. Analysts said it is high time the government looked into technical hiring.

“The government has created a system in DGCA that is temporary. So, a D-G comes in for a term and works only for his or her term. This has led to a situation where the decisions taken are short-term and the regulator lacks long-term focus,” said Mohan Ranganathan, a Chennaibased safety analyst.

A former director-general of DGCA, who didn’t want to be named, termed it a good move but said the regulator’s system is robust enough. “As per the system in DGCA, all joint director-generals with technical expertise report to D-G. Any decision taken by D-G is after proper deliberation.”