Aviation ministry may recommend 15 names for post of independent members on board of Air India

NEW DELHI: The aviation ministry is likely to recommend names of 15 eminent people for the post of independent members on the board of national carrier Air India.

ITC chairman YC Deveshwar, Kotak Mahindra Bank managing director Uday Kotak, former home secretary VK Duggal, SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh and Competition Commission of India former chairman Ashok Chawla are likely to be on the ministry list.

Thereafter, the Department of Public Enterprises will seek consent from the shortlisted candidates before naming the five who will join the airline’s board.

The three-year term of the current team of independent directors ends this month. “Ashok Gajapathi Raju wants equal representations to all parts of the country — North, South, East and West and Northeast — while shortlisting names. We are sending about 15 names to the Department of Public Enterprise, which will shortlist about five from it,” said a senior aviation ministry official, who did not want to be named.