If Vijay Mallya is responsible, why not bureaucrats managing Air India? Mohandas Pai rakes up AI’s Rs 30,000 crore loss

AMID the row over Kingfisher Airlines’ boss Vijay Mallya’s leaving the country in the middle of a loan default investigation, former Infosys honcho TV Mohandas Pai on Sunday kicked up a fresh issue as he asked why the people managing Air India were not held accountable for ₹30,000 crore losses, just as Mallya is being probed for losses in Kingfisher Airlines? Though Pai, who was HR head in Infosys and is currently chairman of Manipal Education, has not named anyone in the state-run airline, it’s well known that the loss-making Air India has been managed by bureaucrats, mostly IAS officers. The current CMD Ashwani Lohani is however not an IAS, but a...

36 IAS of 1982 batch empanelled as GoI secretary or secretary-equivalent; Air India’s Rohit Nandan & ITPO’s JS Deepak figure in list

THE Centre on Tuesday published the list of 36 IAS officers of 1982 batch who were empanelled as secretary or secretary-equivalent at the Centre. The names of Air India chief Rohit Nandan and commerce ministry’s JS Deepak who has additional charge as CMD of India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO), have figured in the list of 28 officers empanelled as GoI secretaries. NHAI member (PPP) Sudhir Kumar who had once served as Lalu Prasad’s OSD in the ministry of railways is among eight officers empanelled as secretary-equivalent. The full list officers below:

Who will succeed Rohit Nandan as Air India CMD? More questions, but no answers

Rohit Nandan

AFTER interviewing three candidates and finding none as suitable to be the next CMD of state-run airlines, Air India, the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) issued this statement on Tuesday: “Board did not find any candidate suitable, and recommended that the Government may choose an appropriate course of further action for selection.” This probably paves the way to the appointment of yet another career bureaucrat, possibly an IAS officer, to be…

1982 batch IAS Rohit Nandan may become Air India’s new Maharaja

Rohit Nandan, a 1982 batch UP cadre IAS, is likely to be appointed as Air India’s new chairman and managing director (CMD) in place of 1978 batch IAS Arvind Jadhav who could be made additional secretary in revenue department. According to sources, Nandan may initially be appointed as an interim CMD of the troubled national carrier. An MA in history and MBA from Britain’s University of Hull, Nandan has been a joint secretary in the civil aviation ministry from December 2009.

Who can do the magic?

Nandan has been in good books of the cabinet secretariat for quite sometime, as he was handpicked by former cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar as one of the 10 bureaucrat commanders to do the last-minute fire-fighting ahead of the last year’s Commonwealth Games. He was also given additional charge of the post of Commissioner of Security in the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). Nandan has also served as a director in the board of Pawan Hans Helicopter Ltd.

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10 bureaucrats mandated to save the Commonwealth Games

Action and Appointments

a) The ACC has approved the extension of the additional charge of the post of secretary, department of information technology, assigned to Rentala Chandrasekhar, a 1975 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, for a period of three months.

b) The competent authority has approved the premature repatriation of AK Patnaik, a 1977 batch Indian Audit and Accounts Service officer and advisor inter state council secretariat to his parent cadre in order to enable him to avail the benefit of promotion to the next higher grade in the cadre.

Prez Pratibha Devisingh Patil to inaugurate UPSC's lecture series on governance today

THE issues regarding contemporary relevance to governance and public administration will crop up for discussion in UPSC's foundation day lecture series today. The inaugural lecture will be delivered by President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil on ‘Governance and Public Service’. Minister of state for personnel, public grievances & pensions Prithiraj Chavan will preside over the function to be held in New Delhi, a government release said. In fact, UPSC may now aggressively position itself as the central player in the field of governance issues, and anchoring this lecture series on governance is one of the key demonstrations towards that direction. It is felt that administrative systems have to keep pace with aspirations of young Indian population for which there is an acknowledged need for modernizing the administrative mechanism. The lecture series is also expected to address the pressing matters of administrative reform, and it may give timely input to the process of reforms. The UPSC has the responsibility of recruiting talents for manning civil services in the country in addition to advising the government on related matters of service which cover personnel policy and human resource management. Envoys of Panama, Paraguay, Serbia, Germany & Iceland present credentials to Prez of India Five envoys presented their credentials to the President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday. The envoys were Julio De La Guardia Arrocha, the Ambassador of Panama, Genaro Vicente Pappalardo Ayala, the Ambassador of Paraguay, Jovan Mirilovic, the Ambassador of Serbia, Thomas Matussek, the Ambassador of Germany (See picture above) and Gudmundur Eiriksson, the Ambassador of Iceland. The credential presentation ceremony was attended by senior members of the missions, senior officials of the ministry of external affairs (MHA) and Rashtrapati Bhavan. Action & Appointments a) There has been a cancellation of the approval of the ACC for the appointment of Taradatt, a 1983 batch Orissa cadre IAS as joint secretary in the ministry of minority affairs in place of Sujit Datta, CSS, and it was decided to appoint R Karikal Valaven, a 1989 batch AP cadre IAS in the said vacancy for a period of five years from the date of assumption of charge of the post or untill further orders. b) R Bandyopadhyay, a 1974 batch West Bengal cadre IAS and secretary in the ministry of corporate affairs will hold additional charge of the post of secretary in the ministry of minority affairs during the period of absence on leave of Vivek Mehrotra, a 1974 batch Haryana cadre IAS up to 11th December, 2009. c) S P Seth, a 1975 batch Bihar cadre IAS, presently special secretary in the ministry of coal has been appointed as Principal Adviser, Planning Commission in the rank and pay of secretary in the vacancy of Amitabha Bhattacharya, a 1975 batch AP cadre IAS. d) Rohit Nandan, a 1982 batch UP cadre IAS has been appointed as joint secretary in the ministry of civil aviation for a period of five years.