After hearing all sides, the court reserved its judgment on the pilot’s plea.The Delhi High Court Thursday observed that Air India’s former director (operations) Arvind Kathpalia’s alleged refusal to take a breath analyser test would not lead to the assumption that he was under the influence of alcohol when he operated a flight between New Delhi and Bengaluru in January 2017. “Merely not taking the test would not lead to the assumption that he was under the influence of alcohol. It only shows dereliction of the rules,” said Justice Mukta Gupta.
It did not agree with the pilot’s contention that he was in a hurry to take the flight. “You were getting late, but the flight was also late due to some other reasons. Therefore, you did have time to take the test,” it said.
On the other hand, an association representing commercial pilots told the court that under the Civil Aviation Requirements, if a pilot does not take the test, it is deemed that his blood alcohol level is positive. Claiming that he had not taken the test and allegedly tried to destroy evidence, the association sought rejection of Kathpalia’s bail plea, considering the seriousness of the offence, his propensity to commit it again and the number of persons who could have been affected.
Police told the court that Kathpalia had enough time to take the test but he did not, and claimed that he engaged in forgery as he attempted to modify the test records. After hearing all sides, the court reserved its judgment on the pilot’s plea.
The senior pilot has been accused of violating aircraft rules, including evasion of pre-flight breath analyser test, and forgery in 2017. In November 2018, the DGCA suspended Kathpalia’s licence for three years after he failed a pre-flight alcohol test.
