Govt weighing options for Indian-AI merger

The government is considering several routes like enacting a law or getting a court order or simply issuing an ordinance for merging state-owned carriers Indian and Air-India, official sources said today.

The fastest way to merge the two would be the ordinance route as was done in 1953 when the Air Corporation Act was repealed to create the two public sector airlines, the sources said.

A legislation could also be brought in during the Budget Session of the Parliament after the Cabinet gives its final nod to the proposal of the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, they said.

The Committee of Secretaries (CoS), which was asked by the GoM to finalise various options and work out the nuances of the merger process, has already favoured the merger and offered several choices as to how to go about it, they said. However, Mukherjee is yet to consider the CoS recommendations and proposals.

Sources said there could be some delay in the process but not an inordinate one as the statutory time-frame has to be met.