TBM Staff - Mumbai
In a move that could bring relief to aspiring pilots and other aviation personnel, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has proposed transferring the exam for the use of radio communication equipment in aircraft under the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This proposal is part of the new Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak Bill, 2024, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The new Bill aims to replace the Aircraft Act of 1934. Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu introduced the Bill amid protests from Kerala MP N.K. Premachandran, who raised concerns about the name of the statute being solely in Hindi. Premachandran argued that the Constitution requires Bills presented in Parliament to be in English and questioned the legislative competence of the Bill due to its Hindi title.
According to the Statement of Objects and Reasons, the new legislation addresses the need to resolve ambiguities, remove redundancies, and simplify business processes in the aviation sector. The Bill seeks to streamline the certification process by transferring the Radio Telephone Operator Restricted (RTR) Certificate and Licence testing from the Department of Telecom (DoT) to the DGCA. This change would allow pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, and flight dispatchers to obtain all their necessary certifications from a single authority.
The RTR exam has long been considered one of the toughest in the aviation industry, with widespread reports of corruption. Many pilots have reported paying bribes of up to INR 2.5 lakh to take the exam, with specific dress codes used to identify candidates at exam centres. Some pilots have opted to obtain the same licence from Commonwealth countries like Australia or Canada, where the process is perceived to be less corrupt. If the proposal is approved, aspiring pilots will have the opportunity to take the RTR exam at any of the DGCA’s 14 exam centres across the country, instead of being limited to the current five centres in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, where the DoT conducts the exam.
