"No Discrimination": Delhi High Court Dismisses Pleas Challenging Allowance Reduction For Air India Employees

The Delhi High Court has dismissed pleas challenging office order by which allowances of the Air India employees were reduced, observing that there was no discrimination rather there was a justifiable ground in reducing the allowances for the pilots and engineers.

Justice V Kameswar Rao said that it was for the Centre and Air India to determine, by taking into account relevant considerations, what ought to be the appropriate reduction in allowances.

"As long as the reduction is not palpably arbitrary, the scope of judicial review is very limited," the Court said.

The Court was dealing with a plea filed by two associations namely India Aircraft Engineers' Association and Air India Aircraft Engineers' Association.

Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the petitioners submitted that the impugned order by which allowances were reduced, was passed unilaterally without consultation and in violation of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

It was the grievance of the petitioners that unequal cuts in the gross pay due to economic measures imposed by All India Engineering Services Ltd. had no rationale with respect to imposing different deductions for the employees working under it.

Accordingly, it was prayed that the respondent should be directed to immediately stop the cuts in future and further direct the respondents to repay the salary and other allowances deducted in the name of economy measures from the members of the petitioner association.

Another writ petition was filed by Executive Pilots Association raising similar challenges assailing various office orders of Air India.

Senior Advocate Vivek Kohli appearing for the petitioners submitted that the impugned orders were issued to effectuate a cost cutting exercise in order to save Air India from extinction. He added that purported justification of the orders was the disruption in airlines business caused by the Covid- 19 pandemic.

"The impugned decisions are of Air India and its subsidiary AIESL on the directives of the Ministry of Civil Aviation as admitted by Mr. Sen and Ms. Gosain. Air India and AIESL are / were funded by the Government of India as such the latter has a pervasive control. Therefore, the action has a public law element, as such amenable to the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of Constitution of India," the Court said.

The Court was of the view that only the Executive Pilots and the Aircraft Maintenance Engineers had approached the Court against the impugned decision, although there was reduction in allowance of other employees holding other designations as well.

"It is only Aircraft Maintenance Engineers who have approached the Court, but other employees in the engineering department and even Commercial Pilots and also the employees in the general category like HR / Finance, etc. in whose case also there are similar reductions in allowances, have not approached the Court. The policy cannot be set to naught only at the behest of a few employees, that too in such compelling circumstances," the Court added.

Accordingly the Court dismissed the pleas while refusing to exercise the power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

Case Title: ALL INDIA AIRCRAFT ENGINEERS ASSOCIATION & ANR.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 101

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