Six years after the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday began hearing petitions filed by eight employee associations of the state carrier.

These pertain to implementation of the Dharmadhikari Committee Report on human resources integration. Simply put, this refers to a host of issues related to seniority, performance-linked incentive and salary package.

The panel had recommended measures to bring greater parity among the 27,000 employees of the merged entity, Air India.

The first petition to be examined was the one filed by the airline pilots guild. Advocate Rafiq Dada said AI pilots were being paid 25 per cent less post-merger. Moreover, he argued, if the Dharmadhikari report is implemented, the overall wages would further reduce with a fall in working hours.

At present, under an interim arrangement, former IA pilots are given guaranteed 72 hours flying allowance at rates ranging between Rs 2,064 and Rs 5,270 with overtime at 150 per cent of applicable rates. AI pilots get a flying allowance for minimum guaranteed flying 80 hours.

“Before the merger, IA staffers were given increments and promotions while the same did not happen for AI. This created a lot of discontent as a result,” said Ashok Shetty, lawyer representing the Aviation Industry Employees Guild, which represents ground personnel.

AI’s lawyer Kevic Setalvad argued that austerity measures were justified since the airline had been overmanned for the last 15 years, leading to heavy losses. “The government cannot keep infusing funds into a bottomless pit” said Setalvad.

At present, Air India’s annual wage bill is approximately Rs 3,200 crore of which Rs 1,750 crore is spent on wage and allowances for licensed category employees such as pilots, cabin crew and engineers. Union lawyers have requested Chief Justice MS Sanklecha to examine each petition individually despite commonalities.

The next hearing is scheduled on Wednesday.

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