ABROGATION OF THE 5/20 RULE

THE LONG-AWAITED NATIONAL CIVIL

Aviation Policy (NCAP) was finally cleared by the government on June 15, 2016. This is the first time since Independence that an integrated civil aviation policy has been issued. Quite understandably, this has generated considerable excitement not only in the Indian civil aviation industry, but amongst the travelling public as well. The airline industry has reasons to be enthralled as the new policy document contains a variety of measures to develop an eco-system that will provide the required impetus for the balanced growth of the country’s underdeveloped and underexploited civil aviation industry.

On coming to power in May 2014, the NDA Government had unveiled the draft NCAP in November 2014. After initial revision, the draft policy document was circulated amongst the stakeholders for their comments, views and suggestions. There were also several rounds of deliberations with them. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) received as many as 450 responses from the stakeholders who would now be anxiously looking for the takeaways from the new dispensation. Initially, the policy was expected to be finalised by March 31, 2016, as some of the proposals were to be in effect from the commencement of the current financial year. However, resolution of the differences among stakeholders especially on the highly controversial 5/20 rule, proved to be a sensitive and a tricky issue to resolve. This led to the delay in the government saying the final word. Disposal of the 5/20 rule was the single issue that generated considerable debate and some acrimony in the process of