Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Continuing its crackdown on fake pilots, Delhi Police on Thursday arrested two more persons working with private airlines who forged their DGCA marksheet in order to acquire pilot licenses, taking the total number of people arrested in such cases to 17.
The two arrested have been identified as Captain Param Prakash and captain Anirban, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand said.
"Both obtained commercial pilot licenses using forged marksheets," he said.
With this, police have arrested a total of nine pilots for procuring commercial pilot licence or Air Transport Pilot Licence by allegedly submitting fake marksheets.
A total of 17 people, including three Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials, have been arrested in Delhi and Jaipur since March seven after the fake pilot scam was unearthed by the DGCA.
The development comes a day after a parliamentary committee has slammed the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for a "very weak" in-house supervisory and vigilance system to check the menace.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, which also covers civil aviation, has recommended creation of a separate body for keeping a strict vigil "so that such instances do not recur at all."
The Sitaram Yechuri-led Committee also expressed "surprise" that the Directorate of Licensing responsible for issuing licenses to airline pilots was working with just four Group A officers against the sanctioned strength of 26 officers.
The Civil Aviation Ministry did not accept the charges of corruption when the issue was placed before it by the Committee.
The Committee has recommended that the entire licensing system of DGCA needed streamlining. It said the system should also be made transparent by making it available in the public domain.
With PTI Inputs
First Published: Thursday, May 05, 2011, 12:31