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ShareThe molestation-turned-safety lapse incident involving an air-hostess is just the newest case of arbitrary judgment by Air India's inquiry commissions, according to cabin crew veterans, some of whom have been at the receiving end of this high-handedness in the past.
"The in-house commissions work like kangaroo courts and there are instances of goof-ups galore," said flight purser KVJ Rao, who was charge-sheeted three years ago for failing to do the duties of an air-hostess, on the basis of mere hearsay.
Two years and two appeals later -- the second one to the then CMD Raghu Menon -- the charges against Rao were overturned, but Rao is yet to get an official communication from the management.
"The so-called competent authority demanded a bribe of Rs4 lakh from me to settle the case, which also I reported to the vigilance department. It's ironic that even a year after the CMD has passed an order, the officers are sitting on the letter," said Rao, adding that many of the officers are not even adept with the rules and incompetent to conduct the inquiries.
In another case, flight purser SG Khanna was caught last year for allegedly possessing 500ml of whiskey. After the inquiry committee found him not guilty, the competent authority LM Joshi overruled the decision and imposed punishment, based on probability. Incidentally, Joshi himself has two cases of vigilance against him, including one related to sexual harassment.
The whimsical approach and procedural lapses have a cost attached to it. The national airline is footing a bill of a whopping Rs3 crore annually on account of legal fees to law firms alone. "Not to mention the taxi-fare claims that the officers make to visit the legal firms," said Rao.
Reacting to the comments, Air India's executive director Jitender Bhargava said that the legal expenses are not only relevant to cases involving inquiries, but also to various other technicalissues involving theemployees.
"In respect of the individual cases, following the vigilance department's recommendation of penalty, departmental enquiries were conducted by the Customer Services Department, the enquiry reports were submitted to the competent authority and penalty hasbeen imposed on the delinquents," said Bhargava.
