New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued a contempt notice to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for non-compliance with the implementation of safety norms.

The top court had asked DGCA in May 2011 to initiate the process of introducing Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR) to curtail accidents as a result of fatigue reported by pilots.

According to the DGCA, the new regulations were issued effective February 2012, however; it has been charged with not implementing the same on all airliners.

The new regulations dictate that airliners must account for the pilot’s duty time not only just flight time.
This means that the pilot’s duty hours will be added to the flight time he/she spends as a passenger reporting for duty.

The apex court stated that it has issued the contempt notice to seek clarifications from the aviation regulator but has not asked its legislative body to appear in court.