Chapter III AIR DEFENCE RESERVE

The Central Government may raise and maintain in the manner hereafter in this Chapter provided an Air Force Reserve to be designated the Air Defence Reserve which shall consist of persons deemed under the provisions of section 16 to be enrolled therein.

Members of the Air Defence Reserve shall be divided into the following classes, namely:— (a) general duties officers; (b) ground duties officers; and (c) airmen.

(1) Every citizen of India who— (a) holds or has held a public transport pilot’s licence (“B”Licence) issued under the Indian Aircraft Rules, 1937, or (b) has had not less than two hundred hours’ experience of solo flying, including not less than thirty landings, or (c) holds or has held a first class navigator’s licence issued under the Indian Aircraft Rules, 1937, or (d) has had at least four years’ aviation experience during which at least six hundred hours shall have been spent in the air, not less than one hundred hours of such experience being experience of navigation in the air, or (e) holds or has held a first class radio telegraph operator’s licence issued under the Indian Aircraft Rules, 1937, or (f) holds or has held a radio telephone operator’s licence issued under the Indian Aircraft Rules, 1937, or (g) holds or has held a licence as ground engineer in any of the categories A, B, C, D or X issued under the Indian Aircraft Rules, 1937, or (h) is or was at any time employed in connection with any aerodrome or in connection with the control and movement of aircraft, in such capacity as may be prescribed, shall within the prescribed period correctly fill up, or cause to be filled up, to the best of his knowledge and belief the prescribed form, and sign and lodge it with the competent authority nearest to his usual place of residence or business: Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall apply— (i) to any person belonging to any of the classes specified in clauses (a) to (f), if he has attained the age of thirty-seven years; or (ii) to any person belonging to any of the classes specified in clauses (g) and (h), if he has attained the age of fifty years. (2) Without prejudice to the provisions contained in sub-section (1), the competent authority may, if it is satisfied that the provisions of that sub-section apply to any person, by order in writing, require that person to furnish within such time such particulars as may be specified in the order and such person shall within the specified time furnish correctly to the best of his knowledge and belief the said particulars to the said authority in such form and manner as may be prescribed.

Every person to whom the provisions of section 11 are applicable shall be liable to be called up for inquiry under section 13,— (a) if he belongs to any of the classes specified in clauses (a) to (f) of sub-section (1) of section 11, until he has completed his thirty-seventh year, and (b) if he belongs to any of the classes specified in clauses (g) and (h) of the said sub-section, until he has completed his fiftieth year.

The competent authority may cause to be served on any person for the time being liable to be called up for inquiry under section 12 a written notice stating that he is called up for inquiry regarding his fitness for service in the Air Defence Reserve and requiring him to present himself to such person and at such place and at such time as may be specified in the notice and to submit himself to inquiry by the said person.

Every person called up for inquiry under section 13 shall, if and when required by the competent authority, present himself for examination before such medical officer as may be directed by that authority and, for the purposes of such examination, shall comply with the directions of the medical officer.

If, after such inquiry and medical examination as aforesaid, the competent authority considers a person fit for enrolment in the Air Defence Reserve, it shall inform him accordingly and enter his name and other prescribed particulars in a register maintained in such form and manner as may be prescribed.

The competent authority may cause to be served on any person whose name is entered in the register maintained in pursuance of section 15 a written notice stating that he is called up for service in the Air Defence Reserve and requiring him to present himself at such place and time and to such authority as may be specified in the notice; and the person upon whom the notice is served shall be deemed to be enrolled in the Reserve as from the day so specified.

(1) Every person deemed to be enrolled in the Air Defence Reserve shall be liable for service— (a) if he belongs to any of the classes specified in clauses (a) to (f) of sub-section (1) of section 11, until he has completed his forty-second year; (b) if he belongs to any of the classes specified in clauses (g) and (h) of the said sub-section, until he has completed his fifty-fifth year. (2) Every such person, on attaining the age specified in sub-section (1), shall cease to be a member of the Air Defence Reserve.