Goel<I>ji</I>, who should become IA chief?

Goelji, who should become IA chief?
SWATI CHATURVEDI

NEW DELHI, JULY 4: Should a rival be consulted before appointing your chief executive? Normally, you'd think not, but the Government, it appears, is taking no chances, never mind if it looks ridiculous in the bargain.

The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB), which is in charge of finding top executives including chief executives for public sector units, has actually written to Indian Airlines' arch rival for help in suggesting "the names of suitable executives who could be considered for the post of Chairman & Managing Director, Indian Airlines".

The letter written by A K Saxena, secretary, PESB has been sent to none other than Naresh Goel, chairman of Jet Airways, which is Indian Airlines biggest and bitterest rival today! Jet has not sent any reply so far, but it's curious if Goel recommends some executive that he wants to get rid of.

The request has been sent to Goel in view of, to quote Saxena, "his vast knowledge.... and understanding of aviation sector''.

Indian Airlines, naturally, is not too amused. Says a top official: `It's like asking the wolf to take care of the chicken coop. I fail to understand why they have done it.''

Sources say that a similar letter has been sent to industry chamber of commerce, the Confederation of Indian Industry. For some reason, deliberate or otherwise, the request for help has not been to Subroto Roy, who heads the Sahara Group, also in the airline business.

The PESB has constituted itself in to a search committee to identify a suitable candidate, according to Saxena's letter, a copy of which is available with The Indian Express. After the PESB identifies candidates, and has interviews, it will send the short-list of two or three candidates to the administrative ministry, from where it will be sent to the home ministry for vigilance clearances.

This letter from the PESB to Goel comes at a time when IA has hit a trough as both Jet Airways and Sahara have surged ahead capturing significant chunks of the market. IA's market share in the domestic sector has dropped to a record low of 48 percent down from last year's 52 per cent.

The letter to Goel also refers to an advertisement issued by IA recently where it asked for suitable candidates to apply for the IA chief's job. Sources say that it will take atleast a year to identify a suitable candidate after all the applicants have been interviwed.