They have been issued notices for disobeying its order to call-off the on-going strike in Air India which entered the seventh day. The court has asked the matter to be re-notified on the 25th of this month. A division bench headed by Justice B D Ahmed , which heard the matter thrice during the day, said, the pilots are not understanding the gravity of being prosecuted for the contempt of court. The bench has asked all the nine persons to remain present in the court on the next date of hearing and gave them two weeks time to respond to the contempt notices.
The pilots, who struck work from midnight last Tuesday, have been demanding pay parity with their colleagues of erstwhile Air India, better working conditions and CBI inquiry into alleged withdrawal of flights from profitable routes, aircraft purchase and other issues.
Meanwhile, railways has decided to run a Rajdhani type super fast special train between New Delhi to Mumbai to cater to the growing demand of passengers stranded due to the ongoing Air India pilots’ strike. According to the Northern Railways official, the New Delhi-Mumbai Central super fast special train will depart from New Delhi Railway Station at 11.35 pm on Thursday to reach Mumbai Central at 8.55 pm the next day. On return journey, the special train will depart from Mumbai Central at 7.45 pm on 7th May to reach New Delhi at 5.10 pm the next day.