Civil Aviation Security Act on the anvil

the centre is framing a civil aviation security act which will give more powers to the bureau of civil aviation security and thus provide a legal basis for enforcing rules relating to aviation security, sources here said. they said a need for such an act has been felt in the wake of the terrorist strikes in the us on september 11. once the act is passed, it will strengthen the bcas' powers to regulate, enforce rules and impose penalty, the sources added. at present, bcas is a toothless organisation without any powers to penalise defaulters. for example, under the present system, the bureau can only go as far as issuing a show-cause notice to a defaulter. ''but it is not empowered to withdraw its licence,'' a top airport official told the times of india here on friday. there is a feeling that such a situation only makes a mockery of the new stringent security standards which have been put into place following the us incidents. the sources said the act envisages making the airport director overall in charge of security. this has triggered a debate in aviation circles because many feel that an airport director hardly has any experience in handling security-related issues. according to them, such a step could lead to a conflict of responsibilities between the airport director and the deputy commissioner of police who is in charge of airport security. ''their relationship can then be compared to the one that exists between a district superintendent of police and a district collector, with both blaming each other if there are any lapses,'' observed the airport official. to prevent such a situation, he said, each airport should have its own head of security as in some foreign airports. col mp choudhary, who commanded india's first anti-hijack squad in 1983, said, ''we are masters at passing the buck and blaming others, each department functions in its own compartment.'' he said multiple authorities in charge of security and coordination and the practice of issuing of passes without checking the antecedents of the people is the biggest problem. for example, the total number of employees at mumbai airport is about 40,000 who are attached to various aviation- related organisations. col choudhary said, ''the bcas becomes an onlooker when heads of the central industrial security force, the airports authority of india, the police, airline representatives and those of the civil aviation ministry want to pull strings and fight for superiority.''

Civil Aviation Security Act on the anvil

THE CENTRE is framing a Civil Aviation Security Act which will give more powers to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and thus provide a legal basis for enforcing rules relating to aviation security, sources here said.

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