- What is DGCA?
- What is Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Bill?
- Structure of CAA
- Autonomy: Finance
- Autonomy: Personnel
What are the functions of DGCA ?
- DGCA=Directorate General of Civil Aviation
- It is a regulatory body under Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The main functions of DGCA, following:
- registration of aircraft
- Licensing pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, flight engineers.
- Supervision of Institutes, clubs and schools engaged in in flying training.
- Conducting air crash investigations
- Formulating guidelines for airplane safety.
- It serves as nodal agency for coordination with ICAO (International civil aviation organisation, a United Nations agency).
What is Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Bill?
- Government plans to introduce this bill in the winter session of Parliament.
- This bill aims to replace the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) with Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) -an autonomous body with more powers.
Structure of CAA
- Chairman + board members.
- Chairman (of CAA) will have a fixed term of five years
- Chairman will be a person with requisite aviation experience can head the authority. An Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer with requisite aviation experience will also be eligible for the post.
Autonomy: Finance
- This new regulator will need annual earnings of around Rs 140 crore, for making itself financially independent.
- A major part of the earnings will come from fee charged for giving out licences.
- A substantial amont of money will also come from charging from passengers. (Government plans to introduce a surcharge of Rs 5 per flight ticket to fund the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)).
Autonomy: Personnel
- CAA will also have the autonomy to hire its employees and decide the salaries of its employees.
- At present, appointments at the DGCA are approved by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which is a time-consuming process.