Delhi HC rejects Air India's 2016 arbitral awards petitions

09 Nov 2023 CW Team

The Delhi High Court made a decision regarding the petitions filed by Air India, challenging the two arbitral awards from 2016 that favoured its two employee associations - All India Aircraft Engineers' Association and Indian Aircraft Technicians Association. The dispute dated back almost 15 years to the time of the merger between Air India?s predecessor-in-interest, Indian Airlines, and its employees. The conflict revolved around matters of service conditions and wage revisions. It's worth noting that Air India has since been privatised through its acquisition by the Tata Group.

Justice Rekha Palli, in dismissing Air India?s petitions, emphasised the established legal principle that presidential directives (PD) issued by the Administrative Ministry of a public enterprise are binding for the concerned enterprise. According to Justice Palli, Air India was unquestionably obligated to adhere to the PD and act accordingly.

The High Court clarified that although the claim of the presidential directive having statutory force might seem compelling at first, it couldn't be accepted unequivocally. Presidential directives do carry significant weight and provide explicit instructions from the parent Ministry of the enterprise. They serve as orders from the Administrative Ministry, directing specific actions or policies within the enterprise. However, fundamentally, they remain instructions from the Administrative Ministry.

The arbitration tribunal had previously ruled that Air India must pay Rs 570.92 million with interest and cover the costs of arbitration proceedings to the All India Aircraft Engineers' Association, representing 480 members who served as engineers under either Air India or Indian Airlines. Additionally, the carrier was instructed to calculate and pay wage arrears with interest to the Indian Aircraft Technicians Association, representing approximately 2000 aircraft technicians, for the period between January 1997 to July 2006.

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