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While most pilots usually look at leaving the IAF after being overlooked for promotion, there have been cases of people putting in their papers before reaching that stage.

A middle-rung IAF pilot earning up to ~2 lakh a month could land a salary that is four times higher as captain in a private airline. Most pilots quit service after being overlooked for promotion and completing 20 years of service, which entitles them to a pension.

“The IAF way of life is very good and apart from the salary, there are several intangible benefits. But my work load is far less as a private airlines pilot and there’s nothing to complain about the remuneration. As captain, I am responsible for everything after the aircraft door closes and once it opens, my job is over,” said an IAF officer who recently quit service and took up a job in a private airlines. The officer asked not to be named.

The first person said that there have been quite a few instances of air force pilots leaving to join private airlines in recent years but couldn’t put a number to this.

Experts said it was critical for the IAF to retain talent.

“A pilot gets into operational flying after training for almost 250 to 300 hours in different aircraft. That costs a lot of money. You cannot afford to let trained people go. Other global air forces are also struggling with same issues,” said Air Marshal KK Nohwar (retd), director general, Centre for Air Power Studies. of hearing. Let the concerned Officer, sitting over the order passed by this Court, also file a reply,” the order said.

The court also directed that if its order is not complied with, the managing directors and directors of the defaulting telecom companies should be present in court on March 17, the next date of hearing.

Vodafone Idea owes over ₹50,000 crore to DOT, while Bharti Airtel has to pay ₹35,586 crore. Tata Teleservices, which sold its mobile services business to Airtel, has dues of ₹14,000 crore. Jio is the only company that paid its dues. It was a small amount, only ₹60 crore, as the company started operations relatively recently. A total of 15 companies owe DOT money on account of AGR.

In the case of Vodafone-idea, the split of licence and spectrum fee dues is roughly ₹28,000 crore and ₹24,000 crore.

At the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on December 6, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla sounded a stark warning, saying Vodafone Idea, a joint venture between Vodafone (which has the majority stake) and his group, would have to shut shop if no relief is forthcoming from the government to soften the blow from the Supreme Court verdict that telecom operators pay DOT the dues they owe in three months.

Birla,who is also chairman of Vodafone Idea, said he is hopeful the company doesn’t find itself in a situation where it needs to exit from the market.

“But, at the same time, if you ask me specifically, it is true we will shut shop if we don’t get relief. Because there is no company in the world that can pay that kind of fine in three months, it just doesn’t work like that,” Birla said at the time.

Friday’s observations by the Supreme Court came during a hearing on applications by telecom companies seeking extension of the time for paying their dues.

When the matter was taken up for hearing on Friday, justice Mishra observed that no payment had been made by the telecom companies. “Not even a penny has been deposited so far by the companies and a stay by a desk officer (ensued). The judicial system of this country has been taken away,” he said.

The scenario was disturbing because it reflected scant respect for the directions of the top court, the bench said.

“The companies have violated the order passed by this Court in pith and substance. In spite of the dismissal of the Review application, they have not deposited any amount so far. It appears the way in which things are happening that they have scant respect to the directions issued by this court,” the order passed by the court said.

The apex court said that the office direction by DOT issued on January 23 (seeking no “coercive action” against the companies for non-payment) was a device to scuttle the order of the top court and such a direction should not have been passed at all.

“A Desk Officer of the Department of Telecommunications has the temerity to pass the order to the effect of issuing a direction to the Accountant General, another Constitutional Authority, not to insist for any payment pursuant to the order passed by this Court and not to take any coercive steps till further orders. This is nothing but a device to scuttle order of this Court. This kind of order should not have been passed by the Desk Officer at all,” the order stated.

The notification of January 23, Mishra said, should be withdrawn immediately or the concerned DOT officer will have to face penal action. “If he does not withdraw it within an hour, he will go to jail today itself,” the judge said.

Immediately after the order of the court, the DOT withdrew the controversial office direction of January 23. It also ordered that steps be taken to comply with the October judgment of the apex court.

“The office letter dated 23.01.2020 stands withdrawn with immediate effect. It is directed to take immediate necessary action in compliance with the judgment dated 24.10.2019 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” the fresh direction issued by DOT on Friday said.

According to an official from the telecom ministry, who asked not to be named, the January 23 order was issued without the secretary or the minister being aware of it. “We are now looking into why that order was issued,” this person said, asking not to be named.

The cumulative burden on 16 telecom companies following the top court’s order came to around ~92,461 crore. Out of the ~92,461 crore, the principle amount was only ~23,188 crore and the interest component, penalty and interest on penalty accounted for the remaining ~69,273 crore.

Review petitions against the judgment were dismissed by the court on January 16. Subsequently, at least four telecom companies, Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices and Hughes Communications India, filed applications in the Supreme Court seeking an extension of the three-month deadline to pay the dues.

The dispute concerns the license fee payable by the telecom companies, which in turns depends on the gross revenue of the company. Gross revenue was defined under clause 19 of the licensing agreement between the central government and telecom companies which provided for exclusion of revenues under certain heads so as calculate AGR.

When the DOT raised demands from telecom providers, they approached the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) arguing that the DOT illegally included elements of income in the definition of AGR that do not accrue from their operations under the license like dividend income, interest income on short term investment, discounts on calls, revenues from other activities separately licensed, reimbursements under the Universal Service Fund (USF), and so on.

After various rounds of litigation, the matter eventually reached the Supreme Court which in October ruled against the telecom companies.

Besides private telecom companies, various state-owned firms including GAIL India, Power Grid Corporation, Oil India, and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilisers that held telecom licenses for internal communications were also hit by the Supreme Court judgment.

Vodafone Idea’s shares closed 23.21% lower at ~3.44 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday. Bharti Airtel’s shares rose 4.69% to a record ₹565.10 because investors felt it was in a better position to pay off its debt. Shares of banks with exposure to the telecom sector also fell, with the BSE Bankex falling 1.1% to 35,359.65 points.