Delhi High Court Questions DGCA on Indefinite Pilot Rest Relaxation

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday questioned the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), over the “indefinite” relaxation granted to airlines on implementing new norms relating to weekly rest and leave for pilots.

A two-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia asked the DGCA to explain the rationale behind its decision to withdraw a key provision of the new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) norms, which stated that “no leave shall be substituted by weekly rest.” Issuing notice on a public interest litigation (PIL), the court directed the DGCA and IndiGo to file their responses within two weeks.

The DGCA had, on December 5, 2025, granted an exemption from certain FDTL provisions to allow IndiGo to deploy more pilots on duty in an effort to reduce flight disruptions and normalise operations. The airline had cancelled hundreds of flights across the country in the first week of December after it was unprepared to implement the new norms, which came into force on November 1, 2025.

Appearing for the DGCA, counsel told the court that the regulator was monitoring the situation after the FDTL norms took effect and that the withdrawal decision followed an audit and representations from airlines regarding pilots clubbing weekly rest with leave. The counsel clarified that weekly rest for pilots continues to be mandatory under the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), while leave is governed by contractual arrangements between pilots and airlines.

The DGCA also informed the court that a separate, time-bound relaxation from night duty norms had been granted to IndiGo through another letter issued on December 5, valid until February 10. The court, however, questioned why the relaxation on non-substitution of weekly rest and leave was issued without any deadline when the night duty relaxation was time-bound.

“The grievance appears to be that leave and weekly off cannot be mixed up, which you have withdrawn because of disruption in one airline. If two letters are issued on the same day, why is one time-bound and the other indefinite?” the Bench observed, asking the DGCA to justify the open-ended withdrawal that applies to all airlines.

Earlier, the court had noted that concerns over public safety arising from non-implementation of fatigue prevention norms could not be brushed aside.

The petitioners, Sabari Roy Lenka, Aman Monga and Kiran Singh, have alleged that the relaxation was illegally granted by the DGCA solely to IndiGo and was prima facie mala fide. The plea contends that under obligations set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the DGCA must uniformly enforce fatigue regulations, prevent unsafe rostering, ensure adequate staffing and suspend non-compliant schedules, duties it has allegedly failed to discharge. The matter is scheduled for further hearing in April.