JOIN USThe proceedings, launched on the court’s own initiative, came after the agitating pilots refused to return to work despite the court earlier restraining them from going on strike or resorting to demonstration.
“It is clearly evident that the conduct of the pilots is brazen, willful and smacks of sheer arrogance,” observed Justice Gita Mittal, who also transferred the case to the divisional bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra. The case is likely to come up for hearing Monday.
“It is noteworthy that despite order of the high court twice, the defiance and the conduct of pilots has only exacerbated,” Justice Mittal said.
The court on Thursday issued a notice for contempt of court proceeding.
Stay on stir
On Wednesday, the court imposed a stay on the flash strike by 600 pilots of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association.
The striking pilot-members of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association are mainly those who worked in the erstwhile Indian Airlines, which merged with Air India.
They are demanding pay parity with Air India pilots and protesting on other issues related to work conditions.
The airlines has incurred heavy losses since the strike began.The Air India put the loss incurred in the past three days due to the pilots’ strike, which forced the airline to cancel at least 280 flights at Rs 26.5 crore.
The airline, which normally operates 320 flights on a daily basis, cancelled 57 flights on April 27, 96 on Thursday and at least 126 on Friday, an official said here.
More cancellations
The number of cancellations were more on Friday because of the management’s decision to refuse fresh bookings for the next five days, the official of the airlines said.
The estimated losses on these three days were Rs 4.5 crore, Rs 10 crore and Rs 12 crore respectively, the official added.