Jadhav being removed, Joint Secy, Aviation secy to replace him

New Delhi, Aug 12 (PTI) Arvind Jhadav is being removed as
Air India's Chairman and Managing Director with the government
deciding to split the post into two and appoint Civil Aviation
Secretary Nasim Zaidi as the chairman.
Rohit Nandan, a Joint Secretary in the Civil Aviation
Ministry, will be appointed the Managing Director of the
airline to handle day-to-day functions.
Orders to this effect are expected to be issued on
Friday, official sources said.
However, the appointment of Nandan and Zaidi is going to
be an interim arrangement till the government gets suitable
candidates for the two posts.
The government is also likely to soon fill up two
vacancies in the Air India board caused by the resignations of
Amit Mitra and Anand Mahindra, who quit as independent
directors in the board.
Earlier there was speculation that Nandan will be
associated with two deputy MDs.
However, sources said they are yet to take a decision on
these appointments.
55-year-old Jadhav has been facing criticism for the
grave financial crisis facing Air India.
A 1978-batch IAS officer, Jadhav took over as CMD of the
National Aviation Corporation of India Limited (NACIL) on May
4, 2009. He is empanelled as a Secretary to the government.
Jadhav has been under attack from sections of the
employees like pilots and political parties. His tenure so far
has experienced three major strikes by pilots and other
employees.
The focus of these attacks has been the massive losses
and debt burden of the national carrier and delayed payment of
staff salaries and allowances.