07 July,2009 07:34 AM IST | | MiD Day Correspondent
Court asks carrier to file detailed reply to pilots' petition. the pilots had alleged foul play in recruitment process
The young pilots who had taken Air India to court over an alleged botched-up recruitment process have had their pound of flesh.
Hearing the petition filed by the group of 68 pilots, the Delhi High Court on Monday, issued a notice to Air India asking the national carrier to file a detailed reply by August 10.
In their petition filed last week, the pilots had alleged Alliance Air, the low-cost wing of Air India, had withheld the results of a job interview that had taken place about 10 months ago.
Justice Siddharth Mridul issued a notice to Air India and Alliance Air asking them to file a detailed affidavit explaining why the results were not being declared.
The petition, filed by advocate Praneet Ranjan, accused the airline of trying to surreptitiously hire pilots from private airlines by 'evading' the interview process.
The pilots' counsel said they had appeared in the selection test and interview in 2008, but were not informed of the results. Instead, the airline put out another advertisement for the same posts on June 16, 2009.
The petitioner wanted the court to issue a stay order on the advertisement for fresh recruitments. However, the court refused, saying it was too early. It added the decision on the advertisement would be taken only after the next hearing.u00a0 MiD DAY on June 22 had reported that the pilots were alleging foul play.
The story so far
Alliance Air had invited applications for the post of trainee pilots in April 2008. The written test was held on May 25, for which 260 candidates appeared. Of these, 92 were selected and they appeared for an interview held in Delhi between September 2 and 12, 2008.The pilots allege that none of the selected 92 candidates were informed about the interview results.
