Mumbai: Twenty seven pilots of Air-India, suspended for refusing to fly to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) affected countries and abandoning flights at various destinations, on April 30 filed a petition in Mumbai High Court challenging the management action.

The petition has not been circulated yet and might come up for hearing on May 2.

The respondents are Air-India, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Union of India, High Court sources said.

The aggrieved pilots have questioned Air-India's stand to suspend them, saying the action was per-se illegal.

The pilots have also denied airline's allegation that they had breached service conditions by refusing to operate flights to SARS-affected countries, General Secretary of Indian Pilots Guild Capt Vikrant Sansare told reporters.

The pilots, owing allegiance to Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), have been demanding a certificate from the management to the effect that the accompanying crewmembers had not flown to SARS-affected regions in the past 10 days. This was denied by the management.

A total of 47 pilots have been suspended since April 26 of whom 12 were charge-sheeted. The airline derecognised IPG, which had issued directive to its members not to fly to SARS-affected Hong Kong and Singapore besides Kuwait because of the war.

PTI