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| Edited By: Sindhu Bhattacharya |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 18, 2018, 03:47 AM IST
Arvind Jadhav’s days as the chairman and managing director of Air India are numbered. If persistent political buzz is to be believed, the government is preparing to move him out of the top job later this month.
Though officials in the ministry of civil aviation said they had not moved any official communication to the Cabinet Committee on Appointments on the matter, it seems Jadhav’s handling of the financial mess at Air India came in for severe criticism in a meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) earlier this month.
With several of his Cabinet colleagues openly criticising Jadhav, Union civil aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi is believed to have subsequently agreed to relieve Jadhav of his duties.
When contacted, Jadhav told DNA, “Haven’t heard any such news myself so will not be able to comment”. Ravi did not respond to queries. Jadhav has already been empanelled as a secretary to the government and may eventually be appointed on this post but it is not clear till now who would succeed Jadhav in Air India.
In his two years at the helm, Jadhav has been seen by airline insiders as lacking people skills. Also, there has been continuous friction between him and the ministry of civil aviation since he has the backing of the Prime Minister’s Office. During Praful Patel’s tenure as civil aviation minister, when well known public figures had been appointed to the AI board as independent directors, Jadhav is alleged to have overridden their suggestions on financial restructuring and other decisions of the board.
This prompted the directors — Anand Mahindra of M&M and Ficci’s Amit Mitra — to complain to the PMO and subsequently resign from the board.
More recently, the BJP has been seeking Jadhav’s removal, citing irregularities in his appointment in 2009. But if Jadhav is asked to go, the government will need to find a suitable replacement - which may not be an easy job.
Air India is seen as one of the toughest public sector jobs in India, since it requires managing virtually six different companies - the airline, AI Express, Alliance Air, Hotel Corporation of India and allied functions of ground handling and MRO.
The airline, which was created from merger of erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines, is still grappling with merger issues and is facing losses of over `51,000 crore.
