Aviation regulator flags slow hiring via UPSC, seeks autonomy for recruitment

India’s aviation safety regulator is demanding greater autonomy from government recruitment processes, citing internal projections that show only 294 new appointments are possible in the next six months due to bureaucratic delays, at a time when the sector faces mounting safety concerns.

- Neha LM Tripathi

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has told the government that even after these additions, it will operate with only 847 officials against 1,063 sanctioned posts, using this projection as evidence that traditional recruitment methods are failing to keep pace with the world’s fastest-growing aviation market.

Internal documents accessed by HT show the DGCA has proposed sweeping reforms, including the ability to hire directly from premier technical institutes like IITs and NITs for up to five years, autonomy in technical recruitment, and maintaining a pool of retired aviation officers as consultants.

“The DGCA flagged that it takes more than one year to be recruited by the UPSC. The shortage leads to limited availability of eligible officials on deputation posts for the sector,” a civil aviation ministry official said, describing how the regulator is leveraging recruitment failures to argue for independence from the Union Public Service Commission's hiring processes.