The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on a plea by the Indian Pilots Guild seeking contempt action against aviation authorities for allegedly failing to fully implement new flight duty time limitation norms earlier approved by the court.

Justice Amit Sharma issued notice to the DGCA on the pilots’ association’s contempt petition and directed the regulator to file its response. The matter has been listed for further hearing on April 17.

The plea alleged that airlines were granted extensions and relaxations in pilot fatigue management rules in violation of the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) 2024 framework, despite earlier judicial directions.

The association sought initiation of contempt proceedings, claiming the authorities had shown wilful and deliberate non-compliance with the court’s previous orders.

According to the petition, the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms were introduced to address fatigue among flight crew. However, by allowing variations, exemptions and relaxations to airlines, the DGCA had defied both its undertaking and the directions of the high court, the plea said.

"By approving non-compliant FDTL schemes and granting variations, exemptions and relaxations to the airlines, the actions of the respondents in the implementation of the FDTL CAR constitute wilful non-compliance of the directions of this court...," the plea stated.

Opposing the contempt petition, counsel for the DGCA argued that the court had not frozen the contents of the CAR. While implementation timelines were binding, the regulator retained statutory powers under the Aircraft Act and Rules to grant temporary, case-specific exemptions, the counsel said.

DGCA's counsel argued that such relaxations were limited, subject to review, and that the CAR remains in force.

Earlier this year, DGCA, in its affidavit before the high court in another matter, said the new FDTL norms will be implemented in a phased manner. Of the 22 proposed clauses, 15 were implemented from July 1 and the remaining are to be effective from November 1, 2025.

The watchdog's revised CAR 2024 related to the FDTL provides for more rest time for pilots amid concerns over pilot fatigue. Initially, the new norms were to come into force from June 1, 2024.

The court's decision followed pleas filed by Indian Commercial Pilots Association, Indian Pilots Guild and Federation of Indian Pilots relating to the regulator's revised FDTL norms.

In November 2025, the Federation of Indian Pilots also filed a contempt petition, alleging that the DGCA deliberately failed to comply with the high court's directions.

The federation claimed that despite assurances to the court, the regulator allowed airlines extensions and relaxations and cleared fatigue management schemes that did not align with the CAR 2024 norms or the agreed timelines.