 "Ajit Singh orders Air India to remove scheduling chief")
Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh today asked Air India to remove general manager (operations), Captain HY Samant from his present assignment, for his failure to put a crew in place for Flight A-330, Mumbai-Singapore.
The flight, which was scheduled to take-off at 12.05 am today, is now expected to depart for its destination tonight, an Air India spokesperson said.[caption id=“attachment_576443” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh. Image courtesy PIB[/caption]
“The Mumbai-Singapore flight AI342 with 220 passengers on board was cancelled due to non-availability of commander. The flight will now leave for Singapore at midnight today,” a company spokesperson said.
After enquiry, it was found that Captain RS Dhillon was supposed to fly the said flight from Mumbai to Singapore. However, the pilot was suspended on 31 December 2012 for irregularities regarding fudging of records of simulator training, making him ineligible to fly.
“This information was available with General Manager (Operations), Incharge of Scheduling, Capt. H.Y. Samant, who was also informed about the suspension of Capt. Dhillon,” a civil aviation release said.
Despite that the passengers had a difficult time as the operations department under Samant failed to make an alternative arrangement.
Viewing this “as a gross dereliction of duty by Capt. Samant”, the minister ordered an inquiry so that disciplinary action can be taken against those responsible for the lapse.
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More Shorts“The minister has also asked Air India to ensure that such an incident is not repeated in future, and that all concerned may be informed accordingly,” the statement said.
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