UPSC selects 42 for DGCA posts in attempt to ease staffing crunch

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has selected 42 candidates for appointment as Assistant Directors (AD) of operations in the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), in a large scale recruitment in four years, people familiar with the matter said, adding that the candidates will start working by the end of November.

- Neha LM Tripathi and Prawesh Lama

The appointments are expected to strengthen India’s aviation safety oversight, and come months after Hindustan Times reported DGCA’s staffing crunch on 19 July. On July 21, civil aviation minister Ram

Mohan Naidu told Parliament that DGCA would recruit 190 people by the end of October.

The recommendations were made against 51 advertised vacancies, according to the final list published by the UPSC on October 15.