3 - Ministry of Civil Aviation

services of experienced air traffic controllers from the , AAI, who are close to their retirement,through deputation or on contract basis. Also, a separate wing should be created under theDGCA for licensing and supervision of air traffic controllers.Security issues will become more dominant in an increasingly liberalised environment.The Committee recommends that the . BCAS should continue to remain the nodal agency foraviation security. Presently, all offences relating to aviation security are being treated asoffences under the Indian Penal Code. There are no special provisions to tackle offencesrelating to aviation security. Hence, there is a significant division of responsibility between thesecurity set-up at the airports' and the local police. It would be prudent to have special powersfor the BCAS and the security forces providing aviation-related security. For this, the BCASshould be vested with adequate powers by amending the relevant Acts and Rules, as required.Segments of airports and ATC services, which have natural monopoly or "commonuser/carrier" characteristics, should be subjected to independent economic regulation by theproposed AERA. The Committee also suggests that the AERA should use a light-handedapproach such as multi-year price-cap regulation. In line with this, the Committee recommendsestablishment of AERA as a single-member entity, supported by appropriate technical staff. Asthe sector develops, the regulator should gradually withdraw from supervision and cedeoversight of anti-competitive practices to the Competition Commission of India.An Essential Air Services Fund (EASF) should be established to provide explicit subsidysupport to essential but uneconomical services including commercially unviable airports.Furthermore, the Committee recommends that the responsibility of managing the EASF beentrusted to an independent board with representatives from the Ministry of Finance andaviation users. With a view to conserving resources and facilitating effective co-ordination, theCommittee recommends that, to begin with, the Chairman of AERA may also be appointedChairman of the 'EASF Board.Given that complete liberalisation of international air transport services is quite a wayoff, the government will have to remain involved in negotiating bilaterals. In this process, thegovernment should ensure that such negotiations do not adversely affect the commercialviability of existing airports, or the vital interests of all the airlines of India.54