AAI officials suspended for irregularities in Mangalore and other Airports

[email protected] (CD Network)
September 18, 2012

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Mangalore, September 18: Union Civil Aviation Ministry has ordered immediate suspension of six senior officers of Airports Authority of India (AAI) for committing serious irregularities and wrong doing at Mangalore Airport and several other airports of India.

A statement issued by ministry stated that Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh ordered immediate suspension and initiation of major penalty proceedings against AAI Executive Director(Commercial) LL Krishnan, DGM Finance RL Saran, Additional GM (Commercial) S Basu, DGM (Operations) Arun Mehan, DGM (Operations) PK Chadha and GM Ravi Verma.

The development comes after a CBI inquiry found them guilty of committing serious irregularities and wrong doing at various airports including Mangalore, Calicut, Chennai, Kolkata Trivandrum, Coimbatore and Tiruchi.

The CBI investigations had revealed that these officials favoured a particular company in award of contracts for ground handling services at certain airports.

The Minister also directed filing of the FIR Prem Bajaj, managing director, of Bhadra International, the suspect company, R. V. Narayanan, retired ED (Commercial), Ajit Kumar Dubey, retired ED (Finance), AAI and others for their acts of manipulation, forgery, criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy and corruption under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act. It has also been decided that action may be initiated against the company for cancellation of the award/contract and recovery of dues, the statement added.

Mr. Singh also directed AAI to take corrective measures to prevent participation of defaulter contractor/parties (even if the default is by their sister/ related concerns) in future tender processes by incorporating suitable provisions in the rules and regulations. Following complaints of irregularities in award of contract for ground handling services by the AAI, the CBI had conducted a preliminary enquiry. The enquiry into award of contract for ground handling services at Chennai and Kolkata airports found that the officers of the AAI made certain deviations from the Commercial Manual in the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT), the statement said.

The deviation in particular included deliberate incorporation of the term tie-up arrangement in the eligibility criteria as stipulated in the NIT to make Bhadra International India Ltd. eligible in joint venture technical agreement with Novia International Consulting APS for participating in the bid process. The justification by the officers that the deviation in the NIT had been made as improvements keeping in view similar tenders floated by DIAL and MIAL were found misleading in the inquiry as the NIT of DIAL and MIAL have not used terms as tie-up arrangement.

The enquiry further revealed that TDI International also owned by Mr. Bajaj, sister company of Bhadra International was having a huge outstanding of Rs.36 crores to AAI in an advertisement contract. Further, Mr. Narayanan, retired ED (Commercial) who was liable for drafting NIT joined Bhadra International India Ltd. as its vice president after retirement. Taking serious exception of this, the Minister directed AAI to suitably amend its service rules by incorporating provisions for seeking the permission by the retired employees to seek employment within a period of two years after retirement, it stated.

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News Network
February 19,2020

Dubai, Feb 19: A 25-year-old Indian engineer allegedly fell to his death from a residential apartment in Dubai, according to a media report.

Sabeel Rahman, from Kerala who has been living in Dubai since 2018, fell off the building near his work site, The Khaleej Times quoted a social worker as saying.

Naseer Vatanapally, the social worker, is assisting the family to repatriate his mortal remains back home to Thirur in Malappuram district, the report said.

"The case is a bit unusual. We''re not sure why he went to the building near his worksite," said Naseer Vatanapally.

"His family is unaware of any issues he may have faced. He had asked his brother to collect a new mobile phone he had purchased online - which they received. He had no reason to take his life," he added.

Rahman was the youngest of four siblings. The devastated family is awaiting details from the Rashidiya Police Station. "Following legal procedures, we will repatriate his body back home," he said.

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 22,2020

Mangaluru, June 22: A chartered flight from Dammam with more than 170 stranded Saudi Kannadiga passengers landed at Mangaluru International Airport at 8.53 pm. 

The flight was chartered by Saudi Kannadigas Humanity Forum (SKHF), an unregistered NGO, which was formed recently to help the Kannadigas stranded in Saudi Arabia due to covid-19 lockdown under the leadership of Zakariya Jokatte, president of Jubail unit of Bearys Chamber of Commerce and Industry and KS Sheikh Karnire, Director of Expertise Contracting Co. Ltd, Saudi Arabia.

There were 165 adults and 8 infants on board the IndiGo flight. All the passengers were screened at the airport. They will be dispatched to quarantine centres after completing formalities. 

SKHF had launched an online portal to assist those who were in need of emergency repatriation such as elderly people, those who lost their jobs, pregnant women and those who are in need of emergency medical treatment back home in India. 

SKHF coordinated with the authorities concerned to carry out all the formalities and legal procedures in Saudi Arabia. SKHF members were present at the Dammam Airport to help the passengers during the departure. 

Mr Jokatte and Mr Sheikh have thanked U T Khader, Mangaluru MLA and Dr Arathi Krishna, former deputy chairperson of NRI forum of government of Karnataka, for their help in chartering the flight.

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coastaldigest.com news network
January 23,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 23: Expressing shock over the blast which left him and his supporters injured yesterday, Shantinagar MLA NA Haris today said that the incident cannot be brushed aside as a firecracker blast and appealed to the state government to inquire into the incident.

Recovering from the injuries sustained on his leg, Haris was discharged from St Philomena's Hospital on Thursday afternoon. 

Interacting with mediapersons outside his residence in Shantinagar, Haris said, “It wasn’t a cracker but a ball-like object that was hurled at me. Since my childhood, I have been seeing crackers and the object that was thrown at me was certainly not a cracker. It had splinters and hard objects.”

He said, “I have been representing the constituency for over 12-years and had no rivalry with anyone. Barring political ideology during elections, all the leaders in our constituency have been cooperative with each other. Yet, we do not know what the intention was or who was behind the incident.”

Revealing that home minister Basavaraj Bommai had called him to enquire about his condition at the hospital Haris said, “I have also briefed the home minister and explained to him what exactly happened. I have full faith in the police and will cooperate with the police during the investigation.” Haris said that doctors have advised him three to four-days of rest.

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