Bill introduced in LS to replace 90-year-old Aircraft Act

Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu introduced the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak in the Lok Sabha amid protests from a section of the opposition over the Hindi nomenclature of the draft legislation.

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government on Wednesday introduced a bill to replace a pre-independence era law to overhaul civil aviation regulations and promote manufacturing of aircraft in the country.

Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu introduced the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak in the Lok Sabha even as Opposition MPs raised objections over its Hindi nomenclature.

RSP MP NK Premachandran said, "What is the logical reason for changing the nomenclature of the bill? People from south India will be unable to even read the name of the Bill."

However, Naidu defended the decision saying this issue was settled during the passage of three criminal codes during the last Lok Sabha. "We are not violating any part of the Constitution," he said.

Introducing the Bill, the Minister said the Aircraft Act, 1934 was amended 21 times over the past 90 years and there was a need to address the ambiguities and confusion experienced by the stakeholders, to remove redundancies, to enable ease of doing business and to provide for manufacture and maintenance in the aviation sector.

The new Bill includes provisions for regulating the designing and manufacturing of aircraft, more power for regulatory agencies and power to prohibit or regulate certain construction activities, issue directives, detain aircraft, and enact emergency orders when necessary.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) have been given broader authority to regulate and oversee the aviation sector.

The Bill has expanded the definition of "aircraft" as any machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from reactions of the air, other than reactions of the air against the earth’s surface. This would cover various flying machines presently not covered under the Aircraft Act.

It also provides for provisions for economic regulation of civil aviation and air transport services, including the approval, disapproval or revision on tariff of operators of air transport services. The bill also gives the central government more power to prohibit or regulate certain construction activities, issue directives, detain aircraft, and enact emergency orders when necessary.