Union Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu on Tuesday moved a bill, which seeks to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act, for passage in Rajya Sabha.

The Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024, was passed in the Lok Sabha in the last session of Parliament in August this year.

Moving the bill for consideration and passage, Naidu said that the bill was taken up after a suggestion by The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to amend the principal act.

"We have organised everything in the bill which provides different section for powers of bodies like DGCA. So there is clear demarcation and indication on which each body has to do as recommended by ICAO," he stated.

Naidu mentioned that the aviation sector has the potential to drive the economy and should be expanded.

He informed the House that the number of airports has increased from 74 in 2014 to 157 in the country and the fleet size has also doubled from 400 (aircraft) in 2014 to 813.

"In the earlier Act, only the world maintenance was mentioned. There was no definition. Now we adding design and manufacturing also. We are also defining all these three terms (in the new law). We have brought the appeal system," he stated.

The minister explained that most of the times, we amend rules of the Act with backing of the principal act and that is why we are amending the principal act.

"We are giving strong legal backing to the rules under the Act," he stressed.

He also stated that today everybody wants to have an airport in their district.

"We want to cater to those dreams. We want to build those airports. We feel that if we cannot do it today, it will be a challenge tomorrow. The land is going to be scarce," he added.

The Bill seeks to resolve existing anomalies between various aviation laws and ensure a coherent regulatory environment with well-defined chapters and clauses.

With the proposed legislation, the ministry also aims to promote the ease of flying by having a robust regulatory framework, encouraging foreign direct investment, and ensuring compliance with international conventions and best practices.

Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain raised the point that the name of the bill should not be in Hindi as 60 per cent of the population is non-Hindi Speaking.

He said that naming the bill in Hindi is an exclusionary trend as it is difficult for non-Hindi-speaking people to comprehend.

He asked about the autonomy the agencies would have in the civil aviation sector.

"Given the government's tendency of centralising everything, there is a matter of grave concern. The bill says that appeals against the order DGCA or BCAS will lie before the union government. No further appeals will be allowed against the union government order. “So it remains to be seen how professionally and independently would such agencies be able to function while before under direct control of union government," he said.

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