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New Delhi, May 23 (PTI): Air India on Wednesday filed a contempt petition in Delhi High Court against the pilots as the strike enters 16th day. The government termed their protest illegal and blamed the agitators for not coming to the negotiating table
“We have again and again said we are willing to talk. But they don't want to,” Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said here.
“They are not willing to talk unconditionally. They have conditions. It is an illegal strike and there are no issues in this strike,” Singh said, adding that Air India management was taking “whatever action they need to take”.
So far, the management sacked a total of 101 pilots for reporting sick and not joining duty.
Hit by the agitation, Air India is operating a curtailed international flight schedule as part of a contingency plan and stopped taking fresh bookings till June 1.
The management on Wednesday moved a contempt petition in the high court on grounds that the pilots had failed to comply with its order restraining them from undertaking the stir.
Filing the petition through counsel Lalit Bhasin, Air India management said despite the court's restraint order, several opportunities were given to the striking pilots to resolve their issues but they failed to settle the matter.
The counsel for AI is likely to mention the matter before Justice Reva Khetrapal, who had passed the restraint order, for the petition to be heard on Wednesday itself.
On May 9, the Court had restrained over 200 agitating pilots from continuing their “illegal strike”, reporting sick and staging demonstrations, a day after the airlines management sacked 10 pilots and derecognised their union -- the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG).
The pilots are agitating over the rescheduling of Boeing 787 Dreamliner training and matters relating to their career progression.
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