The government-appointed directors on the board of Air India are expected to take on the airline?s management over controversial appointments made in the company at a meeting scheduled in the Capital on Thursday. The board members including the independent directors would also seek explanation from the management for the mess at the Delhi airport while shifting of operation to the swanky new terminal (T3).
Independent directors of the company include Mahindra and Mahindra vice chairman and managing director Anand Mahindra, Ambuja Realty chairman Harsh Neotia, Air Chief Marshal (retd) Fali H Major and Ficci secretary-general Amit Mitra. An official source said Anand Mahindra was unlikely to attend the board meeting since he was traveling abroad.
?The HR issues would be taken up as part of the board meeting agenda. The other two key issues include compensation from Boeing for the delay of B787 aircraft and the lack of proper planning for migration to the T3,? an airline official said.
Another company official said the issues related to the T3 and hiring of professionals were not part of the original board agenda.
?The two items have been added on Wednesday. The board members have been informed that the company COO Gustav Baldauf will make a presentation on hiring of outside professionals in the board meeting,? he added.
One of the government director on the airline board Bharat Bhushan, who is also additional secretary and financial advisor in the civil aviation ministry, had expressed his reservation over appointments of executives from private sector on high salary in the face of poor financial health of the company.
The board, however, at its meeting on September 28 approved the appointments following a convincing argument supporting the move by Air India chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav.
?The board meeting would be stormy. Some of the board members have indicated that,? a civil aviation ministry official said.
Amidst independent directors? concern over the way the COO for Air India Express and chief training officer for National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil) were appointed, the aviation ministry has shot off a letter to airline management seeking explanation for not taking Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) for the two key appointments.
The airline management has argued that the approval of ACC is required in case of government appointments and not in case of hiring of professionals on contractual basis.
The ministry official stressed that the company may have to put the issue of appointments at abeyance in the face of procedural issues.