Chandigarh, Nov 21 - A lawyer here has claimed to have unearthed a major racket in which scores of candidates furnished forged or false documents to the state civil aviation authorities to get admission at the government-run flying academies.Using the Right to Information (RTI) Act, lawyer Lakhbir Singh claimed Wednesday that these trained pilots could be a threat to India's national security, given what happened to the World Trade Centre buildings in the US in 2001.'These young men submitted false domicile and police verification papers and provided wrong addresses. They received pilot training and now hold commercial licences to fly aircraft. They can be misused by terrorist organisations,' Singh said at a press conference here.Singh alleged that civil aviation officials, including flying instructors, could be hand in glove with the candidates in allowing them to receive flying training based on false documents.Haryana's three flying clubs, all owned by the state government's civil aviation department, are in Pinjore, 20 km from here, Karnal and Hissar.Candidates aspiring to be pilots have to fulfil the mandatory requirement of providing documents and police verification before being given training under civil aviation rules.Singh alleged that the director-general of civil aviation (DGCA) also failed to verify the antecedents of many candidates who were issued commercial pilot licences.Singh claimed that he was in possession of a confidential police report which pointed out that state civil aviation officials and flying instructors at the Pinjore flying club had colluded with candidates to allow them to receive training on the basis of false documents.
(c) Indo-Asian News Service
