To question the procedure followed to remove Arora
The battle between the Air India management and the independent directors on the company’s board has taken a new turn with Chief Operating Officer (COO) Gustav Baldauf deciding to write a letter to Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Arvind Jadhav raising questions over the way AI Express COO Pawan Arora’s removal was carried out.
“Baldauf is writing a letter to the CMD, raising questions over the way the board meeting was conducted and why procedures were not followed before deciding to sack Arora. The independent directors did not give any opportunity to Baldauf to discuss the issue, nor was Arora given a chance to explain the allegations made against him. Besides, no board resolution was moved to sack him,” said a source in the know.
The independent and government directors on the Air India board had, in a meeting on Thursday, asked the management to cancel Arora’s appointment. The state carrier has 14 directors out of which five are independent directors, two are government nominees and the rest part of the senior management.
According to sources, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) Secretary General Amit Mitra, one of the independent directors on the board, said at the board meeting on Thursday: “We have taken a decision that Arora should go.” The sources added that Mitra left the meeting mid-way as he had another appointment. Mitra was not available for comments despite numerous attempts.
The meeting was attended by three of the five independent directors. Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra, and M A Yusuffali, managing director of Emke Group, did not attend.
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Arora’s appointment got embroiled in a controversy after details surfaced that he had been removed from the position of test pilot by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Following this, the civil aviation ministry asked the Air India broad to reconsider his appointment. Questions had also been raised over non-renewal of Arora’s flight instructor licence.
However, Air India’s top management stoutly defended Arora’s appointment, saying allegations against him were untrue.
Sources in the ministry, however, said: “He cannot be allowed to stay, as the allegations are serious. The fresh procedure for the recruitment of a new COO will be decided during the review of the appointment of the chief training officer.”
In the meeting yesterday, the board cleared the appointments of Baldauf as COO and Kamaljit Rattan as chief information officer. But it also formed a two-member committee to review Stefan Sukumar’s appointment as chief training officer.