nEW DELHI: Former Director General of Civil
Aviation (DGCA) Bharat Bhushan's unceremonious ouster by the civil aviation
ministry has put the airline regulator in a tenuous position - its top two
officials have a direct conflict of interest.
The new acting DGCA Prashant Sukul is on the Air India board, while the joint DGCA Anil Srivastava is also the CMD of Pawan Hans Helicopters.
DGCA regulates Air India, Pawan Hans and all their competitors. This is the second time in a fortnight that the aviation ministry has refused to comply with the diktat of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
A week before, the ACC decided to extend Bhushan's tenure on July 4 - it had asked the aviation ministry to relieve Srivastava from his Pawan Hans' job as it constituted an obvious conflict of interest. Even this hasn't been complied with. Srivastava, who took charge at Pawan Hans in March this year, continues to hold both the positions.
"Headed by the prime minister, the ACC is the government's apex body for such high-level appointments," said a senior government official. "If ministers can routinely refuse to obey its decisions, it undermines the authority of the cabinet panel and, therefore, the highest office in the country," he explained. Incidentally, last year, the civil aviation ministry had abruptly removed the then Air India CMD, who was also appointed by the ACC with a fixed tenure.
In a separate development, aviation minister Ajit Singh is learnt to have gone one step further and informed the cabinet secretary Ajit Seth that he is not keen on retaining Bhushan in the ministry.
The new acting DGCA Prashant Sukul is on the Air India board, while the joint DGCA Anil Srivastava is also the CMD of Pawan Hans Helicopters.
DGCA regulates Air India, Pawan Hans and all their competitors. This is the second time in a fortnight that the aviation ministry has refused to comply with the diktat of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
A week before, the ACC decided to extend Bhushan's tenure on July 4 - it had asked the aviation ministry to relieve Srivastava from his Pawan Hans' job as it constituted an obvious conflict of interest. Even this hasn't been complied with. Srivastava, who took charge at Pawan Hans in March this year, continues to hold both the positions.
"Headed by the prime minister, the ACC is the government's apex body for such high-level appointments," said a senior government official. "If ministers can routinely refuse to obey its decisions, it undermines the authority of the cabinet panel and, therefore, the highest office in the country," he explained. Incidentally, last year, the civil aviation ministry had abruptly removed the then Air India CMD, who was also appointed by the ACC with a fixed tenure.
In a separate development, aviation minister Ajit Singh is learnt to have gone one step further and informed the cabinet secretary Ajit Seth that he is not keen on retaining Bhushan in the ministry.
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