module 5

DRONE LAW

CERTIFICATE COURSE

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DEVELOPED BY

MODULE - 5

LOOPHOLES IN THE PRESENT
REGULATION SYSTEM OF
DRONES IN INDIA

5.1 INTRODUCTION

Technology is a very complex and complicated topic regulation succeeds two other daft regulations that were
when it comes to its usages or affects. It can be both issued by the DGCA in April 2016 and November 2017.
very positive and negative or simply, disruptive in Both these drafts were open to stakeholders for
nature. The remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) or comments but they never got formalized into anything
commonly known as Drones, is an example of such. until now. A task force called the drone task force has
Drones have been proved very useful for various uses also been set up that will provide for further
such as; Military, Commercial, civilian and even recommendations when needed and may even modify
humanitarian activities, the unregulated activities of the current regulation or create new ones.
such also include some serious consequences that
must be looked into and studied. 5.2. Background
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or simply called as drones
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (the “DGCA“) have been used in various communities since the 1850s.
released the National Drone Policy, 2018 version 1 The different types of Usages, sizes and various
(Drone Policy)1 on 27th August 2018. The subject matter mechanical bodies have changed with time though.
of the regulation is 'Requirements for Operation of Civil These Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are a set of
Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS)'. The policy is autonomous bodies that are capable of flying without
set to come to effect from 1st December 2018. This

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a human pilot, and are independent on their own. In • infrastructure projects, and
other words, without the presence of a pilot seated • Land records.
within the drone itself. Generally, they are operated by a The increasing usage of drone-enabled solutions by
ground-based controller that serves to provide direction, various state departments and ministries are validating
sustained flight level and other guidelines as per the their efficacy, such as the:
usage of drone. These bodies that are being remotely
operated are very quickly offering budget-friendly • railways,
solutions to cartographers for collecting geographic • surface transport,
data. LiDAR and ground-based LASER operated • power, and
equipment are capable of providing high quality data • law enforcement
points which can be mosaiced and used for DEM and The Indian regulatory approach has not been very
ortho-photo generation along with other domain specific positive towards the innovation of these drones and its
operations. usages. Numerous delays have taken place in the
formation of fixing guidelines for them. In the year of
Before these draft regulations came into force, drones 2014, DGCA had issued its first public notice, announcing
were not given the approval to be used in India and were that no non-governmental agency, organization,
because there was no proper regulation governing them individual would be allowed to launch or use a drone for
and other security reasons. There were two draft any purpose until, its regulations and guidelines are
regulations released, one in 2016 and the next in 2017 fixed. In 2016, they were still stuck up in the draft stage
and these regulations contain detailed information wherein prohibition of 28 months with private players
relating to the licensing and other necessities for the use operating in grey zones of quasi permissions by local law
and operation of these drones in the country. enforcement, does not go well with the innovation or
technology adoption. The regulation then lacked certain
Drones have tremendous practical usages. Various aspects:
industries in the country are revolutionizing the usage of
drones in areas as diverse as : • Lack of innovation
• Common default position
• disaster management, • Acts not expressly prohibited stand permitted
• precision agriculture and crop insurance,
• mining,

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Regulation 1.3 which is the Civil aviation Requirements • The Central Government, the State
(CAR) has been issued under the provision of Rule 15A Governments or any governmental company
and Rule 133A of the Aviation Rules of 1937 and thus can get their aircrafts registered.
mentions the requirements for obtaining:
• Any company having its registered office
• the Unique identification Number (UIN) outside the province of India can their aircraft
• Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit (UAOP) registered if the aircraft is to be leased to any
• Other operational requirements for civil person falling in the first two categories.

Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) • Any person who is not a citizen of India but
owns an aircraft or drone, hast the power to
The procedure wherein the initializations, submissions of get it registered in order to run a business in
applications and clearances that take place is an all digit India.
process. This procedure is done by way of an online
platform which is termed as Digital Sky. The Ministry of 5.4. Requirements and Eligibility
Aviation called Digital Sky as the “first of its kind national There are some policies implemented, known as the
Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) platform that Drone Policy, that must be followed by every user, they
implements no permission, no take-off”. are as follows:

5.3. Registration of Drones • Every user must register
o the owner of the drone
Drones are widely considered to fit in the meaning of o Drone that is being used and person
aircraft as defined under rule 3(7) of the Aircraft Rules’ flying it
1937. Rule 30 says that, only the aircrafts which contain
the below conditions, shall be granted a certificate of • Permission must be taken from authorities
registration that are owned by citizens of India. They are: through digital sky app before flying the drone

• Any Company or a corporation that has its • To be eligible to fly the RPA, person must be
registered office in India and whose base of above 18 years of age
principal of operation is within India.
• Must have passed 10th grade examination in
English language

• Undergone practical training as approved by
DGCA

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Regulations have been divided into a number of five enclosed premises and RPA which is owned and
categories, they are as follows: operated by the NTRO, ARC and the Central
Intelligence Agencies, Nano being an exception.
1. Nano – this first category must have less • The other two must mandatorily inform the
than 250 grams or equal to 250 grams police authorities according their provisions.
• The UAOP takes around a period of 7 days to be
2. Micro – This second category must have granted and it is valid for a period of 5 years from
anything ranging between 250 grams up to the date of granting and that can be renewed
2kgs after its 5 years period is over.
• During this period of renewal, a new security
3. Small – this third category must have clearance is required from the Ministry of Home
anything between 2kgs up to 25kgs Affairs.
• The UAOP is non-transferable, while DGCA is
4. Medium – this forth category must have required to grant UIN within a period of two days
anything ranging from 25kgs up to 150kgs from day of receipt of the application with all
documentation.
5. Large – this last category must be Greater • Foreigners are not eligible to fly drones in India
than 150kgs and must have to ease RPAS to an Indian entity
who will obtain the UIN and UAOP from the
• All the mentioned categories are required to get DGCA.
then UAOP, except when there are few
exceptions which may be of any Nano category Every category does not have to obtain UIN like the
that is flying below 50 feet in uncontrolled following:
airspace or enclosed premises.
• RPA’s in Nano category with intent to fly up to 50
• Also, in the case of Micro RPA operating below feet above ground level (AGL)
200 feet or 60m AGL in uncontrolled airspace or
• RPA’s owned and operated by Government security
agencies.

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Central Government can issue the certificate of hours before their operations and must get
Registration: Only the Central Government has the right permission grant for clearances from the Indian
to issue the certificate of registration and specify the Air Force, Air Traffic Control and the Flight
duration for which such certificate shall be valid. Rules 31 Information Centre.
to 37A describe the relevant documents that are • In cases of any cancellation of flight, it must be
important and highly required, along with the process informed immediately to the concerned
needed to get the aircraft registered. Under rule 49, the authorities.
DGCA is empowered to issue a Unique Identification • Except Nano operators, every other authority
Number or a type certificate to the aircraft owner. must inform to the local police authorities in
written form about the commencement of any
5.5. Restrictions type of operations.
• If a drone is being controlled by a pilot in
Restrictions imposed even on the regulations mentioned controlled airspace, continuous contact must be
in order to fly drones and their operations. The flying maintained with the air traffic control.
area has been divided into three zones, they are: • Specific areas have been laid down under
Regulation 13 where flying of drones is
1. Red zones: It is a no-fly area (which include restricted. Some of the areas are: Within a
regions close to airports, national borders and distance of 5 km from the perimeter of airports
military bases); at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru
and Hyderabad.
2. Yellow zones: Flying in this area will require • However, this is subject to any additional
approvals before flying, conditions/ restrictions imposed by local law
enforcement agencies/authorities in view of the
3. Green zones: They are unrestricted areas. security; from a mobile platform such as a
moving vehicle, ship or aircraft, etc.
• Flying drone up to 400 feet AGL and visual line of • No person can act as a remote pilot for more
sight are allowed. than one drone operation at a time.

• All operators apart from those of Nano drone
operators, must file their flight plans at least 24

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• A drone is also not permitted to discharge or o who “willfully fails to comply with any
drop substances, unless it has been specially direction issued [by the DGCA] under section
permitted by the DGCA and such permission is 5A” of the Aircraft Act, 1934.
mentioned in the UAOP.
The Aircraft Rules, 1937 also state that “the doing of any
• The Drone Regulations also state that no drone act prohibited by or under any rule, or failure to do any
shall transport any hazardous material and act required , that must be done by or under any rules,
animal or human payload. which is not specified anywhere else in this Schedule”, it
shall contain an offence that is punishable with
5.6. Penalties imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or with
a fine not exceeding INR 100,000 (approximately USD
• The UIN or UAOP issued by the DGCA can be 1,450) or with both.
suspended or cancelled if any violation of the
5.7. Flaws in Guidelines
provisions of the Drone Regulations. Falsifying
any information or non-adherence with any 5.7.1. Several areas of turbulence
provisions of the Regulations may also lead to
penal actions under the Indian Penal Code. The draft guideline suffers from serious regulatory gaps
and errors. That is, a hazard Redressal of property and
• The Aircraft Act, 1934 imposes a penalty of privacy concerns resulting from civilian drone operations
imprisonment for a term which may extend up involving “drone federalism” and evolving technical
to two years, or a fine which may extend up to capabilities in the area.
INR 1 million (approximately USD 14,500), or
with both, for anyone: The draft focuses on security concerns. Hence the
provisions governing verification, training, and granting
o who “wilfully flies any aircraft in such a of permits to drone operators, the express stipulation of
manner as to cause danger to any person or suitable atmospheric conditions for operation, and the
to any property on land or water or in the embargo on drone operations in controlled airspaces.
air”; or However, it does not give much importance to the two
equally important concerns: property and privacy.

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Property-related concerns arise because, unlike manned “drone federalism.” This is the situation which takes
aircraft, civilian drones fly at lower altitudes, by place when the States form their own rules, which is an
gathering data and carrying out aerial remote sensing addition to the national regulatory framework. The
facilities. Many drone operators offer bigger data and concerns related to trespass and privacy are known as
analytics solutions to utility companies and other “actionable wrongs” within the ambit of the law of torts,
sectors, and this market is projected to grow even bigger. which means , non-statutory common law claims that
But as it grows, conflicts between land owners and drone are adjudicated by courts, and the reason why they are a
operators are also bound to rise because of ambiguity in part of the Concurrent List in India’s federal scheme.
ownership of airspace above land, including possible
altitude ranges to which such ownership may extend. The States have the power to legislate in order to address
them until the Union intervenes. Moreover, the rights in
5.7.2. Privacy concerns or over land are part of the exclusive preserve of States.
Thus, the operation of drones could fall or come within
The big data model of business represents some serious the Union’s jurisdiction, the determination of airspace
privacy challenges. As technology develops, the attempt ownership immediately above land within that of the
of capturing high quality images from higher altitudes States, and privacy, trespass, and other civil claims that
will get much better. In the absence of a robust privacy fall within the jurisdiction of both.
law in India, drone-enabled solutions could impose
serious havoc on the notion of privacy, especially when To avoid a potential excess of rules and rule-making
deployed by journalists and law enforcers. The guidelines authorities, the civil aviation ministry must coordinate
ought to have focused much more attention to putting in with the regulatory framework across the country.
place a comprehensive framework that regulates data
capture and convincingly addresses privacy violations. Finally, the guidelines move onto an assumption of static
technology capabilities. This is best given by an example
Instead, currently it makes a mere reference to privacy by the draft’s approach to beyond-line-of-sight
by way of Guideline 10.4, irrationally banking on the operations. The guidelines only allow visual line-of-sight
goodwill of drone operators as an effective safeguard. operations, with the remote drone operator maintaining
The guidelines also talks about the indifference to the direct, unaided, visual contact with the drone and a
emergence of a potential rules overdrive resulting from distance of not more than 500 meters between operator
and drone.i

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Technology is developing very quickly to offer Confusions and conflicts arise between innovation
sophisticated sense-and-avoid solutions, rendering an and regulation are unavoidable but the willingness to
absolute mandate on visual line-of-sight too rigid and resolve them quickly and seamlessly the is key to
inflexible. Therefore, the conditional permits in order to attracting both investors and innovators.vi
let such operations based on the technology deployed
would have been better.ii Drones or simply the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have a
access decentralized airspace which also reduces the
Moreover, the guidelines also provide no room to work of the:
evaluate technological leaps and mold the regulatory
framework accordingly. When regulating fast-evolving • Agriculturists
technologies, the regulator must necessarily adopt a • Construction workers, and
more responsible role. iii • Other civilians by also giving them aerial

One way to do so is through regulatory sandboxes which surveillance.
is a concept put to use by regulators in the UK and
Singapore. This concept allows innovators to test Therefore, this quick revolution of technology does not
products, services, and business models in a live only come with positive implications but also with
environment with appropriate regulatory relaxations as negative implications. With drones, it is getting easier to
required to execute the innovation without violating the violate the privacy and encroach upon the personal lives
law.iv of people. Hence, it is considered extremely importance
for the legislature to implement laws which will make
Overcoming the present regulatory system is important, good use of the drones within the said permissible limits.
both;
5.8. Conclusion
• from the perspective of the civilian drone
industry, where one capable of leading to The guidelines for controlling of drones have not been
multiple technological innovations, high-volume framed properly. The rules cater more to high altitudes
manufacture, and beneficial uses rather than controlling the flying the UAFs at low
altitudes for commercial or recreational purposes and
• and the overall economy. v guidelines restrict UAFs from flying in controlled
airspaces. However, its goal is to prevent the UAFs from

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colliding or blocking each other and causing harm. Flying
drones at lower altitudes increases the risk of colliding
with the landowners as well as other drones. Indian
courts have not been handed the opportunity to deal
with such situations yet due to lack of detailed inspection
and according to the judiciary, a person is allowed to use
airspace over his or her land, only till the limit that is
necessary for the ordinary use and enjoyment of land.

ii https://carnegieindia.org/2017/02/28/let-drone-industry- iv Ibid.
take-off-pub-68147 v Ibid.
ii Ibid. vi Ibid.
iii Ibid.

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