Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Two more associates of ex-Air India chief shunted out

MUMBAI: Heads continued to roll in Air India on Tuesday with two more close associates of former chairman and managing director (CMD) Arvind Jadhav being shown the door.

Captain Naresh Kumar Beri and Captain Sandip Marwah, both appointed to the post of Officer on Special Duty (OSD) by the former chairman, were shunted out of the chairman's secretariat, said airline sources.

The two pilots will now be doing flying duties. Captain Beri was accused of nepotism by the Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG), the recognized union of Air India. "He had used his position to first get his son employed in Air India Express as a co-pilot on the Boeing 737 on a five-year contract. Then, breaking all rules, within months he moved his son to Air India's wide-bodied Boeing 777 aircraft," a pilot said. The IPG had brought up this matter in several complaints to the former chairman, but to no avail. The Air India spokesperson was not available for comment.

The changes began on Friday when V Srikrishnan and P Easwarchandran, two retired Air India officials who were taken back on contract by Jadhav this year, tendered their resignations to the departing chairman. The airline's chief information officer Kamaljeet Rattan has also handed in his resignation, though unlike the former two, he has to serve notice period before leaving the company.

Following consistent complaints against Jadhav from several quarters, the government removed him from the post of AI CMD last week. Rohit Nandan, a joint secretary in the ministry of civil aviation, is now at the helm of affairs in the merged airline that has a debt of Rs 42,000 crore.

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