Ajit Singh suspends three officials for favouring commercial clubs

New Delhi, Mar 3 (ANI): Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has suspended a top Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official and two others of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) on Saturday after a Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) report charged them of favouring 28 flying clubs, thereby leading to the loss of Rs. 1.9 billion.

The three officials had been treating the 28 flying clubs under category one of the official government order that classified them as government aided, non-profit and charitable.

Flying clubs classified under category one pay only 10 percent of the flying charges and parking charges as compared to the commercial clubs.

Singh said the CVC report in this 2007 case was submitted on January 27, 2012 and after taking note of the report and DGCA's recommendations, he took appropriate action.

"In 2007 the government classified into two categories. Category one was government-aided clubs, non-profit or charitable and the flying rates charged from these clubs is 10 percent compared to the rate paid by the other commercial clubs. They have to apply to DGCA to get those operating permits and they classified 28 flying clubs in category one, while they are not category one. So, they are paying only 10 percent of what they had to pay," he said.

The three officials, identified as A.K. Saran, the then Deputy Director General, DGCA, Parveen Kumar, the then Section Officer and D. S. Sada, the then Assistant in DGCA, would also have to pay major penalties. (ANI)