New Delhi: The Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024, tabled by Union Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday seeks to organise various activities in the civil aviation sector with legal backing.
Moving the bill for consideration and passage, the Minister said that the bill was taken up after a suggestion by The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to amend the principal act.
The bill, which seeks to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act, was passed in the Lok Sabha in the previous session of Parliament in August this year.
Naidu said the bill has compiled 21 amendments made in the Aircraft Act over the last 90 years and has clearly demarcated powers of various bodies like the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The minister explained that the government was amending the rules with the backing of the principal Act.
He pointed out that in the last 90 years, the Aircraft Act was amended 21 times. While 19 sections were amended, two sections were repealed. “Whenever amendments were made, they were brought in bits and pieces. There was a lot of redundancy and inconsistency within the Act. ICAO suggested why don’t you look at principal legislation once so that there is no redundancy and inconsistency,” he said.
Stating that the government is determined to make India the number one domestic civil aviation market in the world, Naidu mentioned that the aviation sector has the potential to drive the country’s economy.
Naidu said the Ministry was looking at the MRO sector, manufacturing aircraft and skilling people within the country to cater to various segments.
He cited the statistics to highlight the growth of the sector during the last 10 years. The number of airports has increased from 74 in 2014 to 157 in the country and the number of aircraft has also doubled from 400 in 2014 to 813.
He said the domestic passenger traffic also doubled from 67 million in 2014 to 153 million.
“This growth is just the tip of the iceberg. We believe it has the potential to drive the whole economy of the country,” he said.
The Minister said while the earlier Act mentioned only the maintenance of aircraft, the new Act will design and manufacture.
“In the earlier Act, only the word maintenance was mentioned. There was no definition. Now we are adding design and manufacturing also. We are also defining all these three terms,” he said.
The Minister said the government has also brought the appeal system in the bill with emphasis on the principle of natural justice. Those affected by administrative, financial or economic orders of the government can go through the appeal system.
–IANS