The Central Bureau of Investigation has raided the premises of a top Air India official,also a permanent flight operations inspector (FOI) at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation,allegedly in connection with a question paper leak for an examination conducted by the regulator. According to sources,the raid was conducted on Saturday at Capt H S Malhotras residence in Gurgaon after the DGCA lodged a complaint on Thursday regarding the paper leak. Malhotra is a senior check pilot with Air Indias regional airline,Alliance Air. The airline may take disciplinary action against the pilot. With great difficulty,we are trying to put the whole pilots examination system in order. All other papers are online except for a few technical examinations which have certain limitations and therefore cannot be conducted online. In the examinations conducted on March 15-16 this year,we found that the technical paper was leaked, DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan told The Indian Express. Bhushan said he decided to lodge a complaint with the CBI because the modus operandi adopted was sophisticated. This is an area where strong action is required, he added. Bhushan clarified that the candidates were not inconvenienced as re-examinations were conducted within the next couple of days and results were declared too. The technical examination was taken by nearly 700 pilots and commanders and was cancelled 10 days later,said top officials. The candidates appearing for the exam were found to be in possession of the leaked question paper before they walked in to the centre. One such candidate walked into a DGCA officials room with the question paper in hand. The official immediately lodged a complaint with the examination division, said a DGCA source. The Central Examination Office,a DGCA arm,conducts the tests for Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) and Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) besides licences for aircraft engineers. Following the irregularities pointed out,the result for the said paper was withheld and Bhushan used his discretionary powers to cancel the examination. The examination for CPL and ATPL,which was being conducted across 12 centres in the country,in the General Technical Paper I category for January session was later rescheduled for April.
