By IANS,
New Delhi : The government has decided to sack Air India chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav and name an interim replacement for the two posts till a regular candidate is appointed, official sources said Friday.
The candidates being considered as interim replacements are Civil Aviation Secretary Syed Nasim Zaidi as chairman and Joint Secretary Rohit Nandan as the flag carrier’s new managing director, the sources added.
Zaidi is a 1976 batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service with Uttar Pradesh as his cadre. He has considerable experience in the sector, having served as the director general for civil aviation and on the board of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Nandan is a 1982 batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service with Uttar Pradesh as his cadre. He has been in the civil aviation ministry since December 2009, which was his first posting outside his parent cadre.
The move also came ahead of the calling attention motion in the Lok Sabha called by five members of the opposition on the situation arising out of the dwindling passenger share of Air India, poor financial health and delayed payment of wages to employees.
The carrier incurred a loss of Rs.6,994 crore in 2010-11 and is laden with a cumulative debt of Rs.40,000 crore, which it incurred over aircraft acquisition and as short-term loans to maintain its operations.