Delhi high court issues contempt notices to 9 striking union leaders of Air India

Contempt notices were today slapped by the Delhi high court on nine union leaders of striking Air India pilots who refused to end their week-long stir, provoking the airlines management to clamp 'no work, no pay' rule.
       
As the stalemate continued, the management issued directions for not processing of the salaries of those who were not joining duty as the airline operated only about 40 flights on the seventh day, cancelling almost 90% of its 320 daily services.
       
However, keeping open the window for talks, civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi told reporters later in the day, "Government is willing to settle the issue".
       
Ravi, who has been insisting that the pilots would have to call off their agitation before further talks, said he has convened a meeting tomorrow with Air Indi chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav, civil aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi and top officials to discuss the situation.
      
Following its stern warning, the High Court issued contempt notices to nine office bearers of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), while deciding to take up the matter again on May 25.
       
It rapped both the striking pilots and the airlines management for their adamant attitude and failure to resolve the crisis.
       
The two-judge bench also appointed senior lawyer Siddharth Luthra as amicus curaie to assist the court on the legal issues.
   
"Status quo remains. The matter is sub-judice. We will fight for our demands till the last and seek legal recourse. We are absolutely united", Vikram Yadav, ICPA representative told reporters.
   
He said the ICPA was "ready to sit for talks any time, but the management should be ready too. We can sit across the table and resolve the issue in five minutes, but similar should be the management's attitude too".

Directions were issued by the management to the airline's accounts department not to process the April
salaries of pilots who have not reported back for duty, despite the issuance of an ultimatum that expired last Friday.
       
"We are pursuing the 'no work, no pay' principle against all those who are not reporting for duty. Their April salary will not be processed if they do not join work", an Air India officer said.
      
He said the company was making efforts to garner resources to pay the salaries to the rest of the employees. Bank loans were also being organised, he said.
   
Asked whether they would continue their strike, ICPA leader Yadav repeatedly said "status quo remains" but maintained that they would abide by the court's order.
   
He also apologised to the passengers for the inconvenience and said, "we don't want this to happen but we are being pushed to the corner".
   
The strike would be called off as soon as the management assured the high court that their demands would be considered within a time-frame, he said.
       
The ailing national carrier has blocked domestic bookings for the past five days. Private carriers were flying about 15,000-16,000 of passengers of AI, which is offering only about 9,000 seats each day.
       
The pilots, who struck work from midnight last Tuesday, have been demanding pay parity with their colleagues of erstwhile Air India, better working conditions and CBI inquiry into alleged withdrawal of flights from profitable routes, aircraft purchase and other issues.
       
Of the total 1,200 pilots, over 800 belonging to the erstwhile Indian Airlines have gone on strike. The remaining 400, mostly operating international flights, owe allegiance to the Indian Pilots Guild.