New Delhi [India], October 13 (ANI): A SpiceJet aircraft on Wednesday landed safely at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport after smoke was detected in the cockpit, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) informed.

New Delhi [India], August 26 (ANI): The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered the removal of a pilot from flight duties after he was found positive for a drug test.

New Delhi [India], August 21 (ANI): The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered the removal of an official of Air Traffic Controller (ATC) after he tested positive for a psychoactive substance on Sunday.

New Delhi [India], January 19 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain Air Traffic Controller (ATC) Guild India petition against conducting of random breath analyser (BA) tests on 5 per cent of the ATCs prior to joining duty at the airports during the surge of the COVID-19 cases.

New Delhi Jan 19 PTI The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a petition by Air Traffic Controller ATC Guild India against the conduct of random breath analyser BA tests on five per cent of the controllers on duty at the airports amid the ongoing covid pandemicJustice V Kameswar Rao who said that he was not inclined to interfere with the procedure noted that not more than six persons are to be tested in an hour and even in big airports five per cent of ATCs comes down to only three to four personsEveryone must be tested It takes one minute for the test In six minutes out of an hour everyone is through I am not inclined the judge saidI do not see any reason to entertain the writ petition the judge saidAdvocate Anjana Gosain appearing for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA submitted that BA tests were being conducted in accordance with the earlier directions passed by the court and after each test the area is thoroughly sanitisedThe judge closed the petition and clarified that the authorities shall continue to scrupulously follow the directions passed by the court earlier and any infraction will be taken seriouslyLawyer Piyush Sanghi appearing for the petitioner Association contended that as per the earlier order passed the court only two per cent of the ATCs can be allowed to take the BA test at random and thus the aviation authority cannot increase the number to five per cent at a time when there is a surge in COVID-19 casesHe also claimed that the BA test was being held in a closed area which is also used for airport ground staff and cabin crewThe lawyer said that the BA test is conducted in such a manner that the person taking it leaves behind small droplets which is concerning in view of the COVID-19 infection Gosain representing DGCA submitted that the authorities were anyway testing a very minuscule number of ATCs in terms of the earlier directions passed by the court while taking all precautions and in consultation with a medical boardFrom 2 per cent to 5 per cent or 5 per cent to 2 per cent what will we get It is our prerogative to test Open area for testing is created wherever feasible For safety 5 per cent is appropriate the DGCA lawyer saidShe also claimed that the ground staff and cabin crew are tested in a separate room Advocate Digvijay Rai representing Airport Authority of India informed that in big airports like Delhi and Mumbai 60-70 ATCs are employed who work in three shifts and therefore not more than 3-4 persons are testedIn smaller airports one person is subjected to a BA test and the concerns raised by the petitioner are misplaced he addedOn May 11 last year the court had on petitions by the ATC Guild and Indian Commercial Pilots Association ICPA allowed a limited number of ATCs pilots and cabin crew on duty to undergo BA tests and mandated compulsorysupply of an undertaking that they have not consumed any alcohol or psychotropic substance within the 12 hours before a flightConcerning the procedure to be adopted for carrying out the tests the court had said it would be held in a big and open space and the doctor and medical staff conducting the test would have to undergo a Rapid Antigen Test every dayThe court had further directed that no more than six persons would be tested in a span of one hour and before each test the BA machine would be sanitised by UV radiationIn March 2020 the high court had issued an interim order suspending BA tests through the tube process for ATCsSubsequently in September 2020 it had modified the interim order and allowed BA tests through the tube process based on the recommendations by a medical boardThe board had recommended that one machine would be used per person and not again for the next 12 hoursThe court while allowing the BA tests had said that DGCA would be bound by the June 16 2020 recommendations of the medical boardPTI ADS RKS RKS