Parliamentary panel against giving more teeth to DGCA

NEW DELHI: The government's push to give more powers to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been shot down by a Parliamentary committee, which said it would result in "overlapping" of powers and compound "confusion".

"The Bill, if enacted, will result in overlapping of powers of both governmental organisations (DGCA and Airports Authority of India)... without amending or repealing the Airports Authority of India Act, 1994, the government simply cannot confer the same powers to another body through a different Act," the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture observed in its report.

It said the Bill is a piecemeal effort of the government as lot of ambiguities existed regarding the role of AAI, its powers and functions. "The government should become more futuristic while bringing any new legislation," the Committee observed.

The objectives behind the Bill are commendable but the legislation introduced for the purpose is found to be lacking in many accounts, the Parliamentary panel observed.

"The Committee feels that no proper thinking has gone into the preparation of the Bill and that it has been hastily drafted."

The Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2006 among other things seeks to regulate foreign registered aircraft operating in or over India, safeguarding civil aviation against unlawful interference, empowering DGCA for performing its oversight functions and enlarging its scope of powers.

The Bill also sought to impose penalty for contravention of the Chicago Convention.