Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

The Delhi High Court Wednesday restrained pilots of flag carrier Air India from going on strike.

The pilots, under the banner of Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), are agitating over the rescheduling of Boeing 787 Dreamliner training and matters relating to their career progression.

Justice Reva Khetrapal issued notice to IPG and asked it to reply to a plea of Air India management seeking court’s intervention and also a restraint order against the striking pilots.

"The defendant no 1 (IPG), its members, agents and its office bearers are restrained from illegal strike. The pilots are also restrained from reporting sick, holding dharnas, staging demonstrations or resorting to any other modes of strike in and outside the company’s offices in Delhi and other regional offices," Justice Khetrapal said in her order.

The judge also said allowing such strike to continue will cause irreparable loss to the company as well as huge inconvenience to the passengers travelling by the national carrier.

Filing an injunction suit against the pilots, counsel for AI management Lalit Bhasin termed the strike as illegal and said due to the pilots’ strike, the company has been compelled to cancel some of its international flights which has resulted in extreme hardship and also inconvenience to the passengers.

Moreover, as a result of the cancellation of flights, Air India is facing huge financial loss of over Rs 10 crore per day, he added.

Accepting the counsel’s submissions, the court said "the court is of the opinion that the company has prima facie made out its case. It is a public utility service (PUS) company. It has been held by the Supreme Court that PUS companies cannot be held to ransom by such types of strike..."

The court has fixed July 13 as the next date of hearing.

Bhasin further submitted that despite the management’s attempts to hold a meeting with the IPG members, the pilots are not showing any interest to resolve the issue.

He said, "this is an attempt to pressurise the management to not implement the policy decisions."

Under the Industrial Disputes Act, the pilots were supposed to give 14 days notice to the management before going on strike, but in the instant case IPG failed to comply with the provisions of the Act, Bhasin said.

The Air India management had moved the Delhi High Court seeking an order restraining the pilots from going on strike.

A section of Air India pilots owing allegiance to Indian Pilots Guild went on strike yesterday following failure of talks with the AI management.

Disappointed over the management’s attitude, over 200 pilots had joined the IPG agitation by going on sick leave in the midst of their talks to end the stalemate.