AI's chief training officer to resign?

A week after DGCA withheld his licence, sources say he may resign

BARELY a week after MiD DAY reported that the DGCA had withheld the Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorisation (FATA) licence of Air India's Chief Training Officer, Stephen Sukumar, sources in the airline told this reporter that he is planning to tender his resignation soon.



Sources said Sukumar fears that the committee set up to review his appointment (see box) will find it invalid and he also does not have the documents to satisfy the committee and thus, wants to quit before he is fired.

Should the resignation come through, Sukumar will be the second of four high-level officials hired under the Praful Patel regime to vacate his chair. Air India Express' COO, Pawan Arora, was sacked by the airline's board in November for allegedly submitting false documents regarding his qualifications.

The appointments of both Sukumar and Arora, who joined duty on September 28, 2010, were opposed by the independent directors on Air India's board as well as a few officials of the civil aviation ministry.

The directors had said they were not kept in the loop on the appointment.

"It has come to my knowledge that Sukumar has decided to resign, but we have not officially received his resignation yet," said a senior Air India official, on condition of anonymity.

On February 16, MiD DAY had reported ('Centre glare on Air India's 'dicey' recruitment') that Sukumar's licence had been withheld because he had failed to submit important documents related to his claim on the number of hours he had flown.

The Other Side
An Air India spokesperson declined to comment on the issue and said he had no official confirmation of Sukumar's resignation.
Sukumar could not be reached for comment.

Controversy
In November some independent directors on Air India's board, including Anand Mahindra, Harsh Neotia, Amit Mishra, Air Chief Marshal (retired) Fali H Major and Yussuf Ali voiced their displeasure against the appointment of Captain Pawan Arora as the COO of Air India Express. They alleged that they were kept in the dark about Arora's past record. A two-member committee was also appointed to review Sukumar's appointment.