Realizing that the scores of pilots, cabin crew and aircraft engineers being churned out by training institutes mushrooming across India may affect air safety if not trained well, the aviation ministry on Wednesday asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to conduct an audit of all such firms.

A special team of DGCA officials and other aviation experts is now being formed for this purpose and the training institutes will be assessed and approved the to ensure the people coming from there are well-versed with all safety requirements.

Aviation minister Praful Patel asked DGCA to immediately start this process at the second meeting of the civil aviation safety advisory council (CASAC), a body formed as a fallout of the Mangalore Air India Express crash, and had its first meeting last month.

The regulatory body, which investigates all incidents but whose outcomes are not usually known, was asked to take punitive actions after fixing responsibilities in all cases of non-adherence to safety measures.

According to an aviation ministry statement, DGCA chief Nasim Zaidi said that the agency will soon decide flight duty and rest period for airline crew. Regulations are also being framed for effective fatigue management system.

This would be then passed on to the airline operators for strict implementation, the statement said. Zaidi also said that there is going to be greater focus on pre-flight medical test of crew (to catch if someone's reporting high for duty).