New Delhi: A parliamentary committee has flagged staff shortages in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as an “existential threat to the integrity of India's aviation safety system” and recommended that it be granted full autonomy in a time-bound manner.

The committee also said that there is a contradiction that exists between high-level international validations and evidence of significant systemic weaknesses on the ground.

It said that while the high audit scores suggest that India's documented regulatory framework is well-aligned with international standards, “issues such as critical staff shortages, a large backlog of unresolved safety findings and the recurrence of specific operational risks point to a dangerous gap between de jure compliance and de facto safety reality”.

The findings were submitted by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture headed by Janata Dal (United) MP Sanjay K. Jha in a report titled “Overall Review of Safety in the Civil Aviation Sector” in parliament on Wednesday (August 20).

While the report comes in the aftermath of the Air India flight 171 crash in June, it does not mention the incident.

The report said that according to data presented to the committee, only 553 posts are currently filled in the DGCA against a total sanctioned strength of 1,063 posts.

“This represents a staggering shortfall of nearly 50% of the required manpower. This deficit is not a mere administrative statistic; it is a critical vulnerability that exists at the very heart of India's safety oversight system, occurring precisely at a time when the sector's unprecedented growth demands more, not less, regulatory vigilance and capacity,” it said.

“While the Ministry has expressed an intention to increase the staffing level to approximately 850 within the next six months, the current gap remains a matter of grave concern.”

The report said that the need for reform had been highlighted by previous committees that studied the functioning of civil aviation safety but had been ignored, pointing “to a long-standing and systemic inertia in undertaking fundamental regulatory reform”.

The report said that there is a need to empower the DGCA with greater autonomy, which has already been highlighted by several committees including the Naresh Chandra Committee (2003), the Kaur Committee (2006) and the parliamentary standing committee on the Creation of Civil Aviation of Authority of India Bill in the year 2014, which said that the DGCA must be granted statutory and administrative autonomy with full control over its recruitment and administrative functions.

“The fact that these well-reasoned recommendations, repeatedly acknowledged by the Ministry, remain largely unimplemented points to a long-standing and systemic inertia in undertaking fundamental regulatory reform,” it said.

The report said that the DGCA's lack of autonomy hinders its ability to attract talent and that effective regulation demands that the regulator possess expertise that is, at a minimum, on par with the industry it oversees.

“This disparity creates a critical ‘competency gap’ where the regulator lacks both the quantity and, potentially, the requisite experience level of personnel needed to conduct rigorous and effective oversight. The staffing crisis is therefore not merely an administrative problem; it is an existential threat to the integrity of India's aviation safety system,” the report said.

The committee recommended that the Ministry of Civil Aviation develop a clear and time-bound plan to strengthen the human resource capacity of the DGCA and grant full autonomy in a time bound manner.

It also said that a new, specialised recruitment body or mechanism must be established, with the flexibility to respond swiftly to the dynamic needs of the aviation sector.

The report said that the DGCA currently lacks the independent authority to recruit its own personnel, to determine service conditions tailored to the specialised nature of the aviation sector, or to offer competitive, market-based remuneration.

“Unlike its international counterparts, the DGCA remains entirely dependent on government allocations and procedural controls, making it impossible to attract and retain the highly skilled professionals – experienced pilots, airworthiness inspectors and flight operations specialists – who are essential for conducting credible surveillance of the private aviation industry. The Ministry on a specific query on the issue has submitted that there is no proposal under consideration for undertaking direct recruitment by DGCA,” it said.

The report added that the DGCA, in its current form, is “not in a position to discharge its duties for which it was established”, as it is tasked with overseeing a hyper-dynamic, technologically advanced and rapidly expanding private industry but is “shackled by a slow-moving service recruitment structure followed by DGCA”.

It also highlighted that air traffic control officers (ATCOs) are overstretched and warned that fatigue could pose a direct threat to safety. The committee said that evidence presented to it said that ATCOs in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad routinely work prolonged, fatiguing shifts.

"This chronic fatigue directly and significantly increases the probability of controller error. Such an error could manifest in various dangerous ways, including a loss of standard separation between aircraft, a runway incursion, a delayed or incorrect response to an emergency, or a complete breakdown in situational awareness.

“The ATCO shortage is, therefore, not just a staffing or administrative issue; it is an active and ongoing threat to the safety of the flying public,” it said.

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