Besides pilots from Jet Airways, those of three other airlines -— IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir — have also been named in the complaint.
In an unusual move, the country's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has filed a police complaint against 34 pilots for allegedly "making obscene remarks" against one of its senior officials on social media.
Acting on the complaint, the Delhi Police on Tuesday questioned over a dozen pilots, mostly from Jet Airways, in this regard. However, the pilots were not arrested or detained. Besides pilots from Jet Airways, those of three other airlines -— IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir — have also been named in the complaint. To back its claims, the DGCA has submitted to the police screenshots of the WhatsApp chat in which the pilots allegedly used 'abusive' language against the regulator.
DGCA chief BS Bhullar said, "DGCA has filed a police complaint. Now, it's for the police to take action."
Delhi Police said that it called the pilots to DGCA office on Tuesday morning and then took them to the Lodhi Road police station for questioning. Senior police officials clarified that no case was registered. A senior police officer said, "The contents of the complaint are being examined. The statements of the pilots were recorded so as to know their version. Their mobile phones were checked and later returned to them. Other pilots named in the complaint have been asked to appear before the police."
Many pilots turned up at the police station to show solidarity with their colleagues. A senior pilot, who did not wish to be named, said that the pilots are also considering legal remedies.
The first episode of distrust between the pilots and DGCA took place when 10 pilots from Jet Airways wrote a mail to the directorate's Joint Director General Lalit Gupta opposing DGCA's proposed move to double the notice period of pilots.
Pilots of Indian carriers are up in arms against a draft civil aviation requirement (CAR) of DGCA that proposes to double notice period of commanders to a year.
In this mail, the pilots wrongly mentioned Gupta's designation as "Director General" which is several notches below his position. Gupta took offence and reportedly asked the Jet Airways to to check the "mental alertness" of these pilots as "they could not even quote a designation properly".
By evening, DGCA said it received an unconditional apology from all the respective airlines. An IndiGo spokesperson told DNA that the airline would also carry an internal inquiry into the matter. The spokesperson said, "We are looking into the charges and extending cooperation to DGCA. We will take appropriate action based on findings of our internal inquiry."
SpiceJet told DNA that none of its pilots wrote anything derogatory or obscene against any DGCA official or made any comments on the draft DGCA CAR. An airline spokeperson said, "One of our pilots had just forwarded some WhatsApp messages to a few friends and colleagues."
DNA could not get a response from Jet Airways and GoAir on the issue.
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