A fresh complaint has been filed before the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) alleging corruption and regulatory lapses involving officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

The complaint, filed by RTI activist Tej Pratap Singh, alleges that officials from the three government bodies acted in collusion with the Drone Federation of India (DFI) and failed to take action despite an official inspection finding that the industry body had allegedly used a forged government document during a change in its corporate name.

The CVC received the complaint on July 18 and, on August 3, forwarded it to the Chief Vigilance Officer of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for further examination, according to details cited in the complaint.

We have accessed the complaint copy. 

Singh has alleged regulatory failure, misuse of administrative procedures and deliberate inaction by officials who were aware of the findings concerning the disputed document. He has sought a vigilance inquiry into the role of the officials concerned.

The allegations relate to an application submitted by the DFI in 2023 to change its registered name from “Drone Federation India” to “Drone Federation of India”.
Under Section 4(3) of the Companies Act, 2013, prior approval of the Central Government is required for certain proposed company names. When the Registrar of Companies raised an objection to the proposed change, the DFI allegedly submitted a no-objection certificate (NOC) purportedly issued by the DGCA and signed by its then Director General Arun Kumar.

However, an inspection ordered by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs under Section 206 of the Companies Act allegedly found the document to be forged.

According to the inspection findings cited in the complaint, the DGCA's Drone Directorate stated that no such NOC had been issued. The file number mentioned in the document was also reportedly not found in official records. The inspection further noted that Arun Kumar had been transferred several months before the date appearing on the purported NOC.

The inspection report consequently concluded that a forged document had allegedly been used in connection with the proposed change in the organisation's name.

Singh had previously approached various authorities in 2025 over the findings and also filed a civil writ petition before the Delhi High Court seeking a CBI investigation.

The MCA had reportedly recommended prosecution over the alleged forgery. However, Singh's latest complaint claims that the subsequent complaint filed before a Mumbai sessions court did not include allegations relating to forgery, cheating and the use of false evidence.

The new vigilance complaint questions why these alleged offences were not pursued despite the findings recorded during the MCA inspection. Singh has sought an inquiry into whether officials deliberately failed to initiate prosecution for serious offences despite being aware of the inspection findings.

DGCA already under CBI scrutiny
The fresh allegations come at a time when the DGCA is already facing scrutiny in connection with a separate alleged bribery case involving approvals for drone imports.

In April this year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested DGCA Deputy Director General Mudavath Devula in connection with the alleged bribery case. Bharat Mathur, an executive associated with Asteria Aerospace Ltd, a member company of the DFI, was also arrested, according to the allegations cited in the complaint.

The CBI's FIR reportedly alleged that Devula demanded ₹5 lakh per application for clearing pending files. Searches in the case allegedly resulted in the recovery of ₹37 lakh in cash, along with gold, silver coins and electronic devices.

The latest CVC complaint contends that the arrests and ongoing proceedings indicate that the alleged irregularities may involve a wider network of officials and that the role of other individuals should also be examined.