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Senior officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the country's civil aviation regulator, have allegedly breached ethics to ensure that their children get jobs in private airlines at hefty pay packages.
As conflict of interest is staring at their face, their alibi is that they have obtained prior approval from the ministry of civil aviation. But investigations by MAIL TODAY revealed that it is true only for certain DGCA officials.
Even if they do, they continue to regulate and maintain oversight of the same airlines their children work for.
Take DGCA director-general SNA Zaidi, who is charged with regulating all airlines operating in India. His son, a lawyer, was employed by Jet Airways in its legal division.
Zaidi is not alone. Joint director-general R. P. Sahi's son works as a first officer for Jet Airways.
Deputy director-general A. K. Sharan's daughter is a co-pilot at Indigo. Director of air transport Lalit Gupta's daughter worked with Indigo for three years. She was, until recently, the airline's assistant manager (commercial). Before joining Indigo, she was employed with SpiceJet for two years.
Deputy director-general Charan Dass's daughter is an engineer with SpiceJet. Director (air safety) R.S. Passi's daughter flies for SpiceJet. Chief flight operations inspector Capt H.Y. Samant's daughter is a pilot with Indigo. In some cases, officers themselves joined private airlines soon after retirement in violation of service rules.
DGCA officials are charged with monitoring various aspects of running of airlines in India, including air safety, air worthiness, licensing of pilots, registration of civil aircraft, private operator's licences, training, flight inspection and investigation into accidents. This conflict of interest, therefore, assumes great significance.
The central government's conduct rules prohibit officials from accepting offers from private organisations with whom they have dealt with in their official capacity. If there is a case of conflict of interest, it is mandatory to make full disclosure.
It is this disclosure that has become the defence armour for some DGCA officials, who have claimed immunity saying they sought the civil aviation ministry's permission before their children took up jobs in private airlines. But it is also true that there is no mechanism to ensure that the officials concerned recuse themselves from handling the airlines that have employed their children, rendering the full disclosure clause meaningless.
Former Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) commissioner Sudhir Kumar told MAIL TODAY: "It would be a case of seeking favours and the officials' conduct should be subject to inquiry."
Captain G.R. Gopinath, who owned Air Deccan before its takeover by Kingfisher Airlines, said it is a "problem which is hard to stop". He said: "The problem plagues other fields as well. What do you do when a minister's or a senior official's son wants a job? In that case, the best scenario is that the person discloses it to the government." When confronted, DGCA chief Zaidi said: "There is a system of seeking government's approval, and provisions exist in the conduct rules for this kind of an arrangement. My son has quit Jet Airways and gone abroad."
When asked about other senior officials whose sons and daughters are working for private airlines, Zaidi said prior government approval of the government has been obtained in some of the cases.
"There is no conflict of interest since disclosure has been made," Zaidi said.
Lalit Gupta, director, air transport, also said he had "taken government approval". As director of air transport, Gupta is responsible for finalising flight schedules and slots and key routes for private airlines, including SpiceJet and Indigo, two airlines his daughter worked for.
Air safety director R. S. Passi, too, allegedly circumvented service rules when he conducted the safety audit of SpiceJet, his daughter's employer. Passi admitted handling SpiceJet's safety audit, but claimed due procedures were followed.
Deputy director-general Charan Dass said he had not taken the approval of the government since his daughter had joined SpiceJet after she was married.
"She is not my immediate family anymore, so there is no question of conflict of interest," he said.
In one case, the minister himself granted approval. DGCA joint director-general R. P. Sahi, whose son works for Jet, said: "The minister himself has granted approval in my son's case. I have certified that there is no conflict of interest." There are instances of former DGCA officials assisting private carriers in an advisory capacity.
H. S. Khola, former DGCA chief, is a consultant for Jet Airways.
SIS Ahmed, former CISF director general, joined GMR group as executive director (security). The CISF is responsible for guarding all the airports in the country.
Government officials cannot join a private entity for two years after their retirement.
So, these officials resign from their respective posts. This allows them to circumvent cooling-off period rules which are applicable only in the case of retirement.
MAIL TODAY investigation showed it is not just DGCA officials who are employed by private airlines or airports.
These private entities routinely dole out hard-to-resist employment opportunities to bureaucrats in key decisionmaking positions.
For instance, senior IAS officer Sanjay Narayan resigned as joint secretary in the civil aviation ministry a few years ago to join the GVK group, the private operator of Mumbai International Airport. While at the ministry, Narayan had handled files related to airport development.
R. K. Singh, another former civil aviation joint secretary, joined InterGlobe, which runs Indigo airlines, after quitting the IAS last year.
P. S. Nair, CEO, Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), was earlier a member of the Airports Authority of India (AAI). He had also handled files relating to airport development during his stint with the AAI. When contacted, Nair claimed he did not deal with DIAL while with AAI, and only handled files relating to the Bangalore airport.
Former civil aviation secretary Roy Paul, said: "If an official's son or daughter is working for a private carrier, he shouldn't deal with the subject. Though there are provisions for approvals, it doesn't sound correct."
No wonder they call aviation a family business
