Centre glare on Air India’s ’dicey’ recruitment

Civil aviation ministry withholds licence of one top official, seeks explanation from another

Centre glare on Air India's 'dicey' recruitment

Civil aviation ministry withholds licence of one top official, seeks explanation from another

Two days after MiD DAY reported (Air India top honchos may lose their job, Feb 14) that all top appointments of Air India made during the tenure of former civil aviation minister Praful Patel were under scrutiny, the ministry has swung into action.

The ministry yesterday withheld the Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorisation (FATA) licence of Stephen Sukumar, who was hired as Air India Chief Training Officer of Air India Express during Patel's regime.

It also asked Air India Chief Operating Officer Gustav Baldauf to explain on what grounds did he question the Air India Board's decision to sack Pawan Arora, the Air India Express Chief Operating Officer.

A highly-placed source in ministry said, "The DGCA has withheld Sukumar's FATA license as he failed to produce documents of his flying and training hours till date. The DGCA has asked him to produce the papers at the earliest."

According to sources, Sukumar, in his reply to the DGCA, said that his documents were lying with his previous company and that he would submit all the documents soon.

Recently, the Air India management had sacked Pawan Arora who was hired during Patel's tenure. Arora's appointment had created a lot of controversies.

The independent directors on the board of civil aviation ministry raised doubts on the transparency of the recruitment process.

The Other Side
Chief Information Officer of Air India Kamaljit Rattan, one of the top officials appointed during former civil aviation minister Praful Patel's regime, said, "He (Sukumar) has applied for the licence and will submit all the documents required by DGCA for his appointment."