Flight staff including pilots, cabin crew to take breath analyser test: Court

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed that air traffic controllers ATCs and five per cent of pilots and cabin crew on duty would undergo random breath analyser BA tests for the next three months in view of the prevailing pandemicJustice Prathiba M Singh further directed the air traffic controllers pilots and cabin crew to give an undertaking that they have not consumed any alcohol or psychotropic substance within the 12 hours prior to a flightIt made it clear that if a pilot cabin crew or ATC is found to have consumed such substances and had given a false undertaking such personnel would be offrostered and appropriate action would be taken against such individualsWith regard to the procedure to be adopted for carrying out the tests the court said it would be held in a big and open space and the doctor and medical staff conducting the test would have to undergo a Rapid Antigen Test everydayThe court further directed that no more than six persons would be tested in a span of one hour and prior to each test the BA machine would be sanitised by UV radiationIt asked the aviation regulator DGCA to issue guidelines with regard to the testing protocol to be followed and to communicate the same to all the airlines and airports in the countryThe directions came on the separate pleas by the ATC Guild and Indian Commercial Pilots Association ICPA opposing the conduct of BA tests during the prevailing pandemicThe Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA had on April 27 issued an order stating therein that 10 per cent of flight crew and cabin crew members involved in domestic operations shall be subjected to random preflight BA testDGCA had also told the court that undertakings are required to be furnished by flight and cabin crew that they have not consumed any alcohol or psychotropic substance in the 12 hours prior to a flightIn March last year the high court issued an interim order suspending BA tests through the tube process for ATCsSubsequently in September 2020 it had modified the interim order and allowed BA tests through the tube process on the basis of the recommendations by a medical boardThe board had recommended that one machine would be used per person and not again for the next 12 hoursThe court while allowing the BA tests had said that DGCA would be bound by the June 16 2020 recommendations of the medical boardThe interim order of March 23 2020 was modified on an application moved by DGCAThe DGCAs application was filed in the petition by the Air Traffic Controllers Guild seeking a direction to DGCA and the Airport Authority of India AAI to temporarily suspend the BA tests through the tube process to prevent further spread of the virusThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever