Air India pilot seeks withdrawal of resignation; Delhi HC issues notice to airline

Acting on a petition filled by a pilot commander of Air India Limited, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the state-run carrier and slated the matter for further hearing on August 4. In his petition, the pilot commander who had participated in several evacuation flights to different countries, sought withdrawal of the resignation tendered by him.

The pilot commander said that he had tendered his resignation on February 6, 2020 due to non-payment of certain allowances and debts, serving a notice period of six months under the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR). His notice period was set to expire on August 8.

"However, soon thereafter the petitioner withdrew his resignation on March 19. The grievance of the petitioner is that the respondent has taken no decision on the application withdrawing the resignation tendered earlier, despite the passage of several months," the plea said.

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Petitioner seeks to continue his job

The plea sought directions to the respondent to accept the request for withdrawal of the resignation and allow the petitioner to continue work. Submitting the plea on the pilot’s behalf, Advocates Shanker Raju and Nilansh Gaur said, it is a settled law that an employee can withdraw his resignation before the company acts upon it. They added that the airline has not taken any steps to find a replacement as yet.

The petitioner's advocates also said that the petitioner has flown several evacuation and flights to different countries during the lockdown period as recently as on July 13. Appearing for the respondent airline, Senior counsel Sanjeev Sen submitted that the petition is premature as no decision has been taken to withdraw the resignation tendered by him.

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(With inputs from agency)