The Draft Guidelines On Operation Of Unmanned Aircraft As Issued By The DGCA Lacks Bite

Of late, lots of interest is being shown for the use of Unmnanned Aircraft / Drones in the country both for commercial and recreational purposes. While drones have a potential for a large number of civil applications, their use, besides being a safety issue, also poses a security threat, as well as having the potential for invading privacy.

The airspace over the Indian cities already has a high density of aircraft traffic and the unregulated use of drones poses a grave threat for air collisions and accidents.

In light of the above, I am of the considered opinion that issues of security, enforcement and penalty, have not been adequately dealt with under the draft Guidelines. For instance, the Guidelines provide that a drone shall not be sold in any way without the permission from the DGCA. Now without adequate enforcement and penalty provisions, such a provision will remain ineffective. Drones continue to be sold unabated in markets and it will be extremely