Cabinet secy-led panel to select Air India CMD

The Union government has appointed a three-member search committee headed by the cabinet secretary for selecting the next chairman and managing director (CMD) of national carrier Air India (AI).

The Union government has appointed a three-member search committee headed by the cabinet secretary for selecting the next chairman and managing director (CMD) of national carrier Air India (AI).

PK Sinha is scheduled to replace Ajit Seth as India's cabinet secretary on June 13.

The other members will be the newly appointed aviation secretary RN Choubey and Sanjay Kothari, secretary, department of personnel and training. The decision to appoint a search committee was taken after the Public Enterprises Selection Board failed to find a suitable candidate for AI's CMD post, as reported by HT on March 4.

The present CMD Rohit Nandan's term will end in August. Nandan has received two extensions since August 2014, when his three-year term was scheduled to expire.

While aviation ministry officials haven't ruled out the possibility of a private sector executive heading AI, sources said that such a possibility remains next to nil. "Nandan's successor will in all likelihood be another career bureaucrat," said an official.