A senior Air India pilot who, as he claims, lost his career, marriage, custody of his children, and spent years unable to afford basic living expenses following what a court has now ruled was an illegal licence suspension, has finally had his flying credentials restored after a 15-year legal battle.
The Bombay High Court on Monday quashed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's suspension order against Jeetendra Krishna Varma, 61, noting that Delhi Police had not framed charges against him in 15 years and that the DGCA never produced the forged mark sheet he was accused of using to obtain his licence, The Indian Express reported.
Varma was 46 and at the peak of his career when the suspension came, flying all three aircraft types in Air India's fleet and holding nearly 7,000 flying hours.
On March 12, 2011, returning from a Shanghai-New Delhi flight, he was summoned by Delhi Police probing allegations of favouritism in licence issuance by DGCA officials. He was arrested, granted bail within a week, and four days later wrote to the DGCA seeking his Commercial Pilot Licence's release. No reply came.
The consequences were devastating. He lost his job, his house, went through divorce proceedings, and has not seen his children since, he claims. For part of those 15 years, he lived at his father's home in Gujarat, unable to afford Pune or Mumbai. He estimates spending over Rs 50 lakh in legal costs.
"I lost everything and until now I have been struggling and fighting. With this ruling, I have got my life and dignity back," Varma told The Indian Express.
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The bench of Justices Manish M Pitale and Shreeram V Shirsat found that the DGCA had suspended his Airline Transport Pilot Licence without issuing a show-cause notice, without identifying any forged document, and without specifying the suspension's duration — setting it aside as "clearly illegal and unsustainable."
The matter has been remitted to the DGCA, which must give Varma an opportunity to present his version and pass a reasoned order within two months.
Varma, who trained at the Airline Asian Academy in Orlando and holds an ATPL certificate from the US Federal Aviation Administration, said he intends to resume flying.
The age bar for pilots in India is 65, leaving him a narrow window. "Aviation and flying are in my blood," he told the newspaper. "I want to resume flying and restart life."
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