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Informist, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Wednesday sought a response from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on a petition against the aviation regulator putting the flight duty time limitation rules in abeyance till Feb 10. "It (rules) has a direct link with the safety of the passengers. The regulator has provided some regulations. Unless it is challenged or there is some flaw, they (DGCA) need to enforce it. They (rules) have not been practically followed. They must be implemented," said a bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia.

 

The petitioner Sabari Roy Lenka, a former aircraft engineer, said the aviation regulator does not have the authority to keep the rules in abeyance and, therefore, the rules must come into force. The rules are meant to improve "fatigue management" of pilots, said Lenka. However, following the IndiGo debacle, the aviation regulator decided to keep the rules in abeyance till Feb. 10.

 

The aviation regulator opposed the locus of the petitioner to file the plea and said the court's single judge bench is already hearing a contempt petition filed by the Federation of Indian Pilots and the Indian Pilots Guild against exemptions given to airline operators from implementing the new Flight Duty Time Limitation norms. However, the division bench said that the petitioner's locus can't be ruled out completely, given that she has been an aircraft engineer, whose functions are directly linked to passenger safety. "It is in public interest. Plea before single judge won't debar others," said the division bench. It will hear the case next on Thursday.

 

Last year, the aviation regulator introduced flight duty time limitation rules to improve safety by limiting the duty hours of pilots, increasing rest periods, and reducing night landings. However, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd.-operated IndiGo saw an unprecedented level of flight cancellations in December due to shortage of crew following the enforcement of the new flight duty time limitation rules. The flight cancellations led to several passengers being stranded at airports across the country.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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