CVC does a flip-flop on Alliance Air case

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has done a double flip flop by first ordering ‘major penalty proceedings’ against a senior ...

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has done a double flip flop by first ordering ‘major penalty proceedings’ against a senior Indian Airlines official and two weeks later ordering closing the case with just issuing an ‘administrative warning’ to the concerned official. The official in question is former deputy managing director of Indian Airlines V. Kashyap.

Copies of two letters available with The Indian Express show that the CVC, through a letter on January 8, recommended that major penalties should be levied on Kashyap in the case referred to the CVC by the civil aviation ministry relating to irregularities in the selection of airhostesses for subsidiary Alliance Airline. The letter stated that these proceedings should be issued before Kahsyap retired on January 31.

But strangely, on January 29, two days before Kashyap superannuated, another letter from the CVC which states that ‘‘taking into account facts and circumstances of the case brought by the ministry and on reconsideration, we advise closure of case’’ against Kashyap with regard to the lease agreement for TU-154 aircraft. In the second case relating to recruitment irregularities, the CVC ‘observes procedural irregularities are visibly apparent,’ and orders an ‘administrative warning’ superseding its own earlier recommendation.

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When contacted, the official spokesperson for Indian Airlines declined to comment on the orders. The allegations against Kashyap included selection of 258 airhostesses between 1996-97 of which 119 did not meet the eligibility criteria set out by the airline itself. The selections were done through advertisements put out in February, 1996 which remained effective till December 1998. The internal observations by the vigilance wing of the ministry had found that proper records of the selection were not maintained.

The chief vigilance officer of the ministry has stated that despite senior officials from Indian Airlines being posted in the subsidiary airlines and carrying responsibility for proper rules and guidelines being put into place, serious irregularities were noticed. After these findings of the ministry forwarded to the CVC and despite four years of ‘‘investigations’’ the entire case was finally put on the backburner after a flip flop by the vigilance organisation.