Stop the dogfights

Air-Indiaacirc;euro;trade;s bosses are quarrelling and accusing each other of corruption. It would be a hilarious story and fit for a television comedy serial if it was not also sad to see a famous airline reduced to such shambles. Here is the Civil Aviation Ministry trying to present the best face it can to potential new buyers of Air-India, and there is top management slinging mud around for all it is worth. Although it may sound to some like the last days of empire, with warring chieftains and the rot within leading to a collapse, that is far from being the true picture. Minister for Civil Aviation Sharad Yadav cannot but take note of the charges of financial irregularity being made against each other by Air-India8217;s managing director Michael Mascarenhas and chief vigilance officer M.B. Sagar. This is unavoidable. But, on the face of it and in relation to other known cases of corruption in Air-India, the charges appear relatively frivolous. As for the airline itself, until the rise in international oil prices causedoperational costs to go up substantially, Air-India had actually begun to turn in a better performance than it had for the last two years.

An early outcome of investigations which are being carried out by a joint secretary in the ministry seems to be precluded by the fact that the bureaucracy moves slowly and by the contradictions in the accusations. It has become obligatory for ministers on such occasions to say, as Yadav does, that the law will take its course. That is all very well but in India it usually means a course of several years if not decades. If a dilatory process is the case here, Air-India8217;s top management will be crippled and it cannot be expected to function efficiently in that condition for long. Obviously, there is no longer the level of confidence between Air-India8217;s seniormost managers which every company needs in order to operate smoothly. Since it is likely to be a year or more before a strategic sale is made and a new private sector management takes over the reins, Yadav is going to have to think not only of how to bring investigations to a quick conclusion but also of alternative arrangements for the management of theairline. Bearing all that in mind, the minister should really start by asking himself whether the charges made so far suggest serious financial irregularities or are a symptom of something else such as mutual animosity and ill-will due to other causes. The charges so far are of favouring a general sales agent and of misusing allowances and free passage on the airline. Should charges of this nature be allowed to cripple the airline?

It would be better, initially, for the minister to summon the managing director and the chief vigilance officer and have a long talk with them. He should try and get to the bottom of this quarrel before more damage is done. A bureaucratic approach involving investigations and reports may be unavoidable because of the chance that there may be more to this quarrel than meets the eye. However, going by what is known so far, it makes a lot of sense to have a parallel track and find out why the two managers have fallen out and what can be done to sort things out.