Arun Mishra to take over Charge as new DGCA Chief

Senior IAS officer Arun Mishra will be appointed as the chief of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) succeeding EK Bharat Bhushan. He will take over the charge by the end of this month July.  Mishra is likely to hold the post for one year. Currently, Joint Secretary Prashant Sukul is in charge of the aviation regulatory body after Bhushan was dismissed from the post as the DGCA chief with immediate effect, six days after his tenure was extended till end of 2012.  The Civil Aviation ministry dismissed the 1979-batch IAS officer as the chief of the aviation regulatory body citing no official word on the reasons for his removal. However, there were speculations that he had warned Air India and Kingfisher airlines to pay dues to their employees, for which he had to lose his post.

The aviation ministry officials said that the DGCA is slated to be converted into the Civil Aviation Authority through an Act of Parliament. Therefore, the ministry is giving priority on the qualifications for DGCA chief.  Bhushan will take the charge as additional secretary and financial advisor in the steel ministry. His counterpart S Machendranathan will take the charge in the aviation ministry. However, standoff was reported between the civil aviation minister Ajit Singh and the cabinet secretariat over the appointment of the DGCA head. Former cabinet secretary TSR Subramaniam said the recent change is an utter disregard for the post of the Prime Minister. He alleged that PM's order has been overruled and new person was posted by the minister.