Interviews for NACIL CMD begin

The interviews for the top job at the National Aviation Company of India Limited, the merged Air India entity...

The interviews for the top job at the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), the merged Air India entity, began on Thursday. While the Ministry of Civil Aviation started the process with 51 applicants, the race was said to be down to just nine candidates by last week. The ministry is likely to take a decision on current incumbent V Thulasidas’s successor very soon as he will retire on March 31. The Civil Aviation Ministry began the hunt for a new CMD for NACIL in December 2007.

The strong contenders for the Chairman-cum-MD’s post include its current joint MD Vishwapati Trivedi, Arvind Mayaram, Joint Secretary Department of Economic Affairs—formerly Member, NHAI administration and Uttar Pradesh Joint Secretary Civil Aviation, and S N Mohanty, Principal Secretary in the Andhra Pradesh Government, who shot to prominence as Municipal Commissioner, Hyderabad.

Favourites Raghu Menon, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ranjan Chatterjee, Chief Secretary Meghalaya and former Joint Secretary in the Ministries of Civil aviation and Defence, and K Jairaj, who is credited for the Bangalore turnaround, stepped out of the race soon after applying. While Menon is set to join as a Secretary shortly, Chatterjee and Jairaj were said to be unable to meet some eligibility criteria.

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With at least 30 of the 51 applicants ruled out immediately after the first screening — and with the likes of assistant accountants, retired professors, bank managers, factory in-charges and civil judges — the ministry’s work was made a little easier.

The process of selecting a new NACIL CMD starts with names being shortlisted by a sub-committee consisting the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) chairman, Civil Aviation Secretary and Personnel Secretary. The Cabinet Secretary along with members of the Search Committee then shortlists names and suggests two candidates to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), which also has Civil Aviation Minister Parful Patel onboard, which will then forward the same to the Home Ministry. The final candidate will be selected and his name announced after the Prime Minister signs the orders.