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Saturday, January 28, 2012

HAL waits for new chairman, DoPT for clearances | Chairman-elect R K Tyagi's papers on way to PMO | Announcement anytime now

WAITING IN THE WINGS? Pawan Hans CMD and HAL Chairman-elect R K Tyagi. Photo: Zoom Delhi
By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service

Bangalore: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is waiting for its 16th chairman R K Tyagi. Currently the CMD of Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd, Tyagi was short-listed as the lone man eligible for the top post after the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) interview on October 13, 2011. With the three-month interim arrangement of the current officiating chairman ending this month, the focus has again shifted to Delhi. The delay has already given enough teeth to rumour mills and whisper specialists, with some claiming that his papers are stuck at the powers of corridors.
However, during a telecon with Express on Friday, a senior official in the Ministry of Defence confirmed that Tyagi's file have moved to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) 'some time back'. “Every crucial clearances are in place and his papers should have moved to the Cabinet Secretariat, Home Ministry and  finally to the Prime Minister's Office. There are strong chances that things would get cleared any time in the next two weeks,” the official said. 
A Bangalore-based director is said to have vehemently opposed Tyagi's entry and made futile attempts to convince the powers-that-be in Delhi as to why an outsider should not be given the mandate of running HAL. “His views have not gone well the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and he has been communicated indirectly about it,” the official said. The Indian Air Force too had suggested that their man at the helm of affairs would be ideal -- a move which failed to impress Defence Minister A K Antony.
The defence minister was left with no option in October 2011, but to exercise his 'special powers' to appoint  HAL's senior-most director (MiG Complex) P V Deshmukh as the officiating chairman from November 1. His interim appointment came after MoD scuttled the extension dreams of former HAL head A Nayak, who had lobbied hard to hang around cashing in on the succession mess. Deshmukh had no choice but to accept the additional charge, despite handling the sensitive Sukhoi production at Nashik – a major source of revenue for HAL.
"All those who were interviewed by PESB in September\October are still to get their orders. The process generally takes time and we don't see anything unusual in the delay,” the official said. The MoD is yet to issue an appointment letter to T Suvarnaraju as the Director (Design and Development) of HAL, though he is currently being given the acting charge of the post. The PESB has now called for applications for the post of Director (Corporate Planning and Marketing), which fell vacant in October, 2011.
                                  Copyright@The New Indian Express

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