Air India chairman Pradeep Kharola appointed civil aviation secretary

Pradeep Singh Kharola, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India, was appointed the new Civil Aviation Secretary on Wednesday. The announcement came a few days after the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) gave senior bureaucrat Ramesh Abhishek additional charge as Secretary of the Civil Aviation Ministry.

Abhishek holds the position of Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The ACC said in a statement on Wednesday that "The ACC has approved the appointment of Pradeep Singh Kharola, IAS (Karnataka cadre, 1985 batch), Chairman and Managing Director, Air India Ltd, as Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, against the vacancy caused due to the superannuation of Rajiv Nayan Choubey, IAS (Tamil Nadu cadre, 1981 batch) on 31.01.2019."

(With inputs from agencies.)