Intense lobbying on the 5/20 rule seems to be delaying the finalisation of the civil aviation policy. The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) which includes Jet, IndiGo, GoAir and Spice has been lobbying the Government to ensure that the 5/20 rule remains, while Vistara and AirAsia are keen that this rule is removed or amended.

Since the Union Cabinet approved the 5/20 rule in December 2004, this can now be changed only if the Cabinet says so. It is only after this decision is taken by the Cabinet that the civil aviation policy can be finalised.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju told BusinessLine that there is likely to be another meeting of an informal group of ministers headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh after which the process will be followed before approaching the Cabinet. He added that as of now no time-frame had been set for the next meeting of this informal group.

The process of sending any item to the Cabinet includes sending the minutes of a meeting (in this case of the outcome of the informal meeting of the group of ministers) to other Ministries who are then given 15 days to respond. After this the Cabinet is approached for its final view on the subject.

“As such there is no time-frame by when we will send the policy (to the Cabinet). Although we hope to send it to the Cabinet by the end of the month,” the Minister said.

Calling the informal meeting of various ministries a “manthan” or churning process, senior officials said this was a good way to ensure that any misgivings on the civil aviation policy can be addressed properly.

Earlier, addressing a press conference, R.N. Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation, said it would be wrong to say that the views of the interested parties had not been heard. “We do not send out letters (inviting them for a meeting on the 5/20 rule). We wrote to FIA. Whether the promoters come or their representatives promoters is their call,” he said. FIA has alleged that it has not received any invitation and said the issue of 5/20 was important, which needed to be explained by the promoters.

He added that this is the first time an integrated policy is being developed, adding that since for the first time an integrated policy is being attempted “there are issues where the stake-holders views have been very diverse.”

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