NEDUMBASSERY: The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) on Monday decided to close down its Aircraft Maintenance Engineering School (CIAL AME School), within a year. The decision has caused apprehension among the students who had already joined the institution.
The CIAL AME School, launched in September 2010 by Cochin International Aviation Services Limited (CIASL), a subsidiary of CIAL, was considered as one of the major attractions in the development of the airport. However, CIAL had entrusted Kairali Aviation Private Limited, a Bangalore based institution, to run the AME School. Parents complain that this was not intimated to neither the students nor to the parents.
More than 30 students joined the first batch of the school. But following an inspection, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) decided not to renew the recognition of the school.
It also denied permission to admit the new batch of students to the Basic Diploma course in AME. The course fee was `5 lakh and the students who joined had remitted Rs. 1.77 lakh by this time.
After getting information on the derecognition of the course and the decision to close down the School, the students and parents stormed the school. They met the senior officials of the CIAL including the Managing Director and lodged complaints.
The CIASL has reportedly informed the parents that the students would be given admission in AME Institutes in T'Puram, Kochi and Coimbatore since it is not possible to run the institute further. But the parents have not accepted this change and have threatened to resort to legal action against the compulsory transfer.
Now, the plight of the faculty is not much different. It is alleged that the faculty was not paid their salary for the past couple of months. They might also approach the court.
Meanwhile, CIASL is reportedly planning to invoke legal proceedings against Kairali Aviation Ltd.