Despite court rap, Air India pilots refuse to relent

Mumbai: Despite a reprimand from the Delhi High Court for continuing with their "illegal" strike, the Air India pilots owing allegiance to the Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG) are in no mood to call off their 11-day-old agitation.

Sources within the IPG said yesterday that the pilots' body was planning to move the Supreme Court against the High Court order, which had pulled up the agitating pilots, saying they could not "wilfully and flagrantly" disobey court orders.

"In our view, no litigant can avail of any discretionary remedy from the court by wilfully and flagrantly disobeying the orders of the court," a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Rajiv Shakdher observed, rejecting a plea by the IPG challenging an earlier single-judge bench order declaring their strike as "illegal".

However, the IPG maintained that it had not committed contempt of court as is being made out by the Delhi High Court.

In a statement issued here, the IPG quoted an observation made by the Supreme Court while hearing Air India's contempt of court petition on May 11:

"They [pilots] have done nothing for obstruction of justice or to bring disrepute to the court. Your problem is with them. You sit with them and sort out the differences. Don't resort to contempt proceedings," the IPG quoted the apex judges having told the airline's counsel.