Former Supreme Court judge Justice D. M. Dharmadhikari, who headed a four-member committee on integration of thousands of employees after the merger of two State-owned carriers — Air India and Indian Airlines — on Tuesday submitted his report to the Civil Aviation Minister, Ajit Singh.
The report takes into account the views of the pilots, cabin crew and engineers on integration of about 29,000 employees of Indian Airlines and Air India which were merged five years ago into unified Air India.
The employees have been agitating over disparities in their pay scales, promotional avenues and areas of responsibilities.
‘Complicated issue'
“The committee has submitted the report, we will examine it,” Mr. Singh said. Asked whether there was any timeline for its implementation, the Minister said: “It is a very complicated issue. The committee has deliberated over the last six months on this.
The report runs into more than 100 pages and there are so many people involved in it — the pilots, the other people in the airline management. The Ministry will examine the report and then do whatever needs to be done.”
Though details of the report were not available immediately, the Dharmadhikari Committee is understood to have made several recommendations on critical issues such as career progression, integration across various cadre, rationalisation of their pay scale, allowances and incentives and overall restructuring of the entire staff of the erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India.
