HC lets pilot fly away

What does it cost an Air India (A-I) pilot with 20 years of service to resign from his job? In Captain Mark Morris’ case, a whopping Rs15 lakh.

Morris, an A-I commander with over 12,800 flying hours, had tendered his resignation on February 28, 2006. A-I, however, refused to accept it, following which Morris moved Bombay High Court in July challenging the “illegal and arbitrary” move.

On Monday, Justice FI Rebello and Justice VK Tahilramani directed A-I to accept Morris’ resignation within two weeks. However, citing amended service rules, A-I said that it had the right to impose any condition for acceptance of a resignation and asked Morris to forfeit his terminal dues amounting to Rs15 lakhs.

Morris (47), whose wife, two children and an ailing 81-year-old mother have moved to Australia, reluctantly accepted the terms. “Captain Morris’ six-month notice period expires on September 30,” his lawyers Vineet Naik and Amit Karkhanis said.

In a similar case, the HC had in April directed A-I to accept the resignation of Captain V. Sivaraman while permitting the public sector utility to hold back his terminal dues.
A-I argued that it was in the process of expanding its routes and fleet of 37 aircrafts.

There was already a shortage of pilots, and the company “cannot afford to release Morris or any other pilot due to extreme exigencies of operational work,” A-I lawyers

Advocate General Ravi Kadam and JS Saluja argued. They added that Rs150 lakh had been spent on training Morris and the airlines would have to spend another Rs88 lakh on his replacement.

Morris’ lawyers contended that A-I could not force him to serve the company. “If an employee does not have the right to resign then the service amounts to bonded labour and slavery, which is prohibited by the Indian Constitution,” said Naik.