Govt tables Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak Bill 2024 to replace Aircraft Act 1934

NEW DELHI: Government Wednesday tabled the “The Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak Bill 2024” that replaces the Aircraft Act 1943, to shelve colonial legacy from one of the most modern and hi-tech sectors — aviation.
Union aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said: “We have introduced ‘The Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak Bill 2024’ which replaces erstwhile Aircraft Act of 1934.This is a consolidated principle act which removes redundancy, addresses all concerns and aliens with the governing principles of Civil Aviation across the globe.”
The new law will simplify processes and improve ease of doing business. The Bill will bring Radio Telephone Operator Certificate exam under DGCA instead of the Dept of Telecommunications. This exam has been a nightmare for aspiring pilots and they hope things will improve under the new system.
The Aircraft Act 1934 had received the then Governor General’s assent on August 19, 1934, and has been amended several times over the years. “On Aug 15, 2022, PM Modi had given a call to remove even an ‘ounce of slavery’ and to ‘liberate ourselves from the slavery mind set which is visible in innumerable things within and around us.’ The Union law ministry identified the laws from that period. Aircraft Act was one of them,” senior officials who worked on this Bill had told TOI last year.
However, VT — that has over the decades been known as the short form of Viceroy’s Territory — will remain as the country code for aircraft registered in India. This code was finalised in 1929 and India had retained the same in 1947 after getting independence. “VT is not a part of the Aircraft Act 1934 act which we are replacing with a new, modern law,” officials had said.
The government had in 2021 said VT does not stand for Viceroy’s Territory. Call sign VT was assigned to India during the International Radiotelegraph Convention of Washington, 1927. Call signs that are closer to India or Bharat such as I, IN, B, BH, BM, or HT are already assigned to other countries, the government had said about two years back.