The CBI has closed a case against former Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav and others over alleged corruption in the appointments of general managers after the central government refused to grant its sanction to prosecute him, officials said. The agency had booked Jadhav, then general manager L P Nakhwa (now retired), and then additional general managers A Kathpalia, Amitabh Singh and Rohit Bhasin after a year-long preliminary enquiry, they said. It was alleged that Jadhav had constituted illegal/irregular promotion panel to recommend suitable candidates for promotion to the post of general manager (operations), they said.
Civil aviation ministry has also reached a consensus to give a five-year term to the next CMD of the ailing state-owned airline.
Air India top brass on Thursday met leaders of two pilots' unions and assured them that their problems would be looked into, especially those relating to the wage structure.
Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said the government was considering extending financial support to Air India.
In an open letter to the employees, Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav said, "Our issues are complex and can only be resolved through sustained dialogue. Any ad hoc decision would only complicate the matter further. You should understand that at this juncture, demands of one category of employees cannot be addressed in isolation."
Arvind Jadhav, a senior IAS officer and the current CMD of Air India, was sent back to parent Karnataka cadre.
The National Aviation Company of India Ltd, that runs the government's flagship carrier Air India, has formally begun looking for a chief operating officer to steer the airline as part of its restructuring plan.
The panel, which is a sub-committee of the Air India board, was set up on Tuesday following which the executive pilots withdrew their five-day long agitation against slashing of their productivity-linked incentive and flying allowance by half.
Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav requested all executives in the level of general managers and above to voluntarily forego salaries and incentives for July as a gesture to ease the liquidity crunch faced by the airline, an Air India spokesperson told PTI. The airline is facing a possible industrial unrest with employees threatening agitation in case their June salary is not given by this month-end.
The employees, holding Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav responsible for the present condition of the airline, also demanded his removal and regularisation of the payment of their due salary and productivity linked incentive.
Four committees had been set up in August under various functional directors of the airline, each focusing on a specific segment of the PLI to review the entire issue of performance payments after the unions rejected a 50 per cent 'unilateral' cut proposed by the National Aviation Company of India Limited management.
The board meeting of the state-owned airlines was also attended by Arvind Jadhav, for the first time since he took over as Nacil CMD after the sudden exit of erstwhile chairman Raghu Menon from the company. However, sources in the company said no final decision could be taken as the issue would be discussed with the new government and the civil aviation ministry.
The statement came a day after the state-run carrier asked all executives in the rank of general managers and above to voluntarily forego salary and productivity-linked incentive payable in the month of July 2009.
Cash-strapped Air India, whose management has been considering slashing salaries and allowances of its employees, has signed an MoU with its officers' association to pay interim relief which would put an annual burden of Rs 36 crore.
The exercise, which will come into effect from July 15, would also see shuffling of eight general manager level and three deputy general manager level officers, airline sources said.
Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav, has finally looked towards his employees for suggestions after trying many consultants in the past for reviving the debt-ridden state-run carrier.
Activist Subhash Chandra Agarwal had appealed to the CIC saying that the government had not provided "any information on the ground that the desired records constituted Cabinet papers and therefore could not be disclosed."
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