Govt forms Committee to examine AAI’s incremental dues in Kingfisher case
TNN Bureau. Updated: 8/13/2017 12:17:29 PM
National
The Union government has formed a Committee to look into the matter of violation of rules by Airport Authority of India (AAI) on the issue of incremental dues over bankrupt Kingfisher Airlines. In a reply to Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture; the Government has said that an Internal Committee, headed by a senior official of the Aviation Ministry, has been formed which will examine various irregularities and violation of rules by the officials in this regard.
The Committee will also examine who was responsible for the incremental dues over the Kingfisher Airlines. It will also give its recommendation so that such incidents do not happen in the future. As per the reply given by the Government, it is said that all the regional headquarters have been asked to adopt appropriate measures so that such incidents do not get repeated in future. Government has also said that action will be taken against the responsible persons/officials as per the recommendation of the Committee as the Standing Committee has asked in its report. The Standing Committee noted that Rs 294.69 crore is due from now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The Committee also said that legal suit has been filed against Kingfisher Airlines to recover the dues.
It observed that the Airports Authority of India allowed the accumulation of dues to such a high level in violation of all the existing rules and procedures in practice. The Committee has recommended that Airports Authority of India should be cautious in future to ensure that no individual stakeholder/airlines is accumulating such high levels of dues. The Committee also recommends that Airports Authority of India may conduct an internal inquiry to fix the responsibility of Airports Authority of India officials for the accumulation of dues by Kingfisher Airlines and to strengthen the systems and procedures to prevent the recurrence of accumulation of dues. The Committee may be intimated about the outcome of the internal inquiry.