“CFOI is not only pushing his name for Dy.CFOI (Helicopter), but has shown enough courage to make Capt Amit Garg as a part of panel to decide eligibility criteria”
K Koushal
Apparently caught in one of the biggest controversies, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been accused by the fraternity members of allegedly bending rules for the post of Deputy Chief Flight Operations Inspector (Dy. CFOI), reportedly to accommodate a ‘yes-man’, believed to be close to Chief Flight Operations Inspector (CFOI).
Expressing their resentment against the approach of DGCA with regard to appointments in the directorate, scores of fraternity members, wishing anonymity shared that the rules are allegedly bent as per the qualification and credentials of a particular slot of candidates, who otherwise are not eligible for the post of Dy.CFOI.
“Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs) in different grades have been recruited in DGCA since 2014. Till 2019 mid, they were recruited based on the same recruitment rules. However, since mid 2019, recruitment rules have been altered by DGCA to benefit few candidates who were known to DGCA personnel in general and CFOI in particular,” alleged fraternity members, adding that as a result, few ‘history-sheeters’ have entered into the directorate through a dubious recruitment process, wherein interviews have had been conducted with DGCA internal board and one Director level representative from MoCA.
They maintained that most of the members of the Board were non-technical. “Even the provision of external technical expert in the Board was dispensed with since mid 2019 to recruit rouge elements,” alleged fraternity members, adding, “In the list of some of the blue-eyed candidates, Capt Amit Garg is on the top for the consideration of Dy.CFOI (Helicopter) in DGCA, as he is close to CFOI, who is not only pushing his name for Dy.CFOI (Helicopter), but has shown enough courage to make Capt Amit Garg as a member of the panel, constituted for the selection of Dy.CFOI (Helicopter), headed by Director General, DGCA.”
Members asserted that DGCA has ‘bent rules’ to allegedly accommodate Capt Amit Garg, who allegedly has a ‘dubious’ track record and there are reportedly multiple complaints of different nature against him (Copies in possession of The Typewriter).
“In the recently issued vacancy notification of 17th June 2022, eligibility requirement for Dy.CFOI (Helicopter) was changed to fit Capt Amit Garg by including clause of TRE/TRI/ have been a Qualified Flying Instructor from defence forces,” members claimed and alleged that he has ‘no civil aviation experience’, which is believed to be disastrous for someone occupying senior regulatory position in DGCA.
They claimed, however, after repetitive representations from the industry, the above stated vacancy notification dated 17 June 2022 was withdrawn temporarily.
“DGCA withdrew this vacancy notification after resentment was shown against the altered rules, but it was again notified in July, 2022, with same criteria,” said members, adding the previous notification was probably to check the intensity of objections, “So that yes-man can be accommodated with some lame justification,” rued members of the fraternity.
They maintained that Capt Amit Garg is accused of flying with an expired license. “All operators under his charge have filed complaints against him for his vindictive unprofessional approach and for placing undue demands to speed up certification,” said fraternity members, adding that there is a case by Civil Aviation Department, Govt of J&K for undue demands placed by Capt Garg, but the matter was allegedly hushed up by DGCA administration.
Without naming anyone, fraternity members informed that Capt Garg has been saved time and again by the DGCA ‘only to save the skin of his bosses’.
“Established procedure for chain of reporting of annual performance appraisal report has been violated to favour Capt Amit Garg,” alleged fraternity members, adding, “There is an official complaint of theft of documents against him filed by fellow FOI, which has been again suppressed in FSD.”
They maintained Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GMR Aviation, Chipsen Aviation and Indiafly Safe Aviation have been allegedly harassed by Capt Garg to extract undue favours.
“Irrefutable evidence was shown to the previous CFOI (who himself had a dubious record of drawing double salary) and the present CFOI but the whole thing was suppressed by them time and again to protect him,” alleged fraternity members.
When contacted CFOI, Vivek Chabra denied the allegations and further expressed his incompetence to comment on the matter, saying “As per protocol, he is not authorized to comment.”
Despite repeated attempts, Director General of DGCA, Arun Kumar was not available for comments. Capt Amit Garg also could not be contacted.
Meanwhile, when tried to contact Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, he was busy in the meeting, as told by his personal section.
