Independent directors at Air India have started exerting their role in the company?s functioning. The strategic committee on human resources?which includes independent directors like Ficci secretary-general Amit Mitra, Ambuja Realty chairman Harsh Neotia and former air chief marshal Fali H Major?has opposed the proposal to induct professionals in areas like strategy and HR.

Sources said Air India had floated open advertisements to induct professionals in strategy, HR, IT and corporate communications, which has been shot down by the strategic committee. Sources said the company should go for outside professionals only if there are no suitable internal candidates.

An email query to Air India in this regard did not elicit any return.

Currently, Air India has four strategic committees ? HR, audit, strategic issues and finance ? each headed by independent directors, which function as the sub-committees to the company?s board. Mahindra & Mahindra vice-chairman and MD Anand Mahindra is the head of audit and finance committee. The committees vet all key decisions in their respective areas.

The HR panel headed by Mitra felt there was no need to appoint professionals in strategy and HR, since the company already has such personnel. ?The HR committee recently directed the company to advertise internally for appointment of chief strategy advisor and chief information advisor. It observed that the company should go for open advertisements only if a suitable candidate is not found internally,? an official told FE.

?The airline needs to cut costs. When there are many people in almost all departments, it should use its own pool for filling the new posts,? another official told FE.

It recently hired a chief operating officer for an annual pay of about Rs 3 crore, some components of which are performance-based. Captain Gustav Baldauf of Austrian Airlines is its first COO.

The committee has cited the airline?s rising staff costs to justify its thumbs-down to the hiring plan. Air India already has a Rs 3,200-crore salary bill for its 31,000 employees. The management, however, argues that it was necessary to have experts on board.

However, the HR panel approved the decision to appoint a COO and chief technology officer (CTO) for Air India Express, the airline?s no-frill arm.

Air India on bailout lifeline

Air India, which has accumulated losses of over Rs 13,000 crore, is surviving on a Rs 2,000-crore bailout package. While the airline has already received Rs 800 crore from the government, the release of the next tranche of Rs 1,200 crore is linked to the airline achieving certain milestones in cutting costs and enhancing revenue. This year, the GoM headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, had directed the airline to cut wage costs.