Nasir Ali has beenhas been appointed as the new Joint  Managing Director of Air India. Nasir Ali has been previously  is heading a panel dealing with human resource issues. Ali is the second administrative official who has been posted in the airline by the civil aviation ministry after appointing Rohit Nandan as the chairman and managing director last year.
Earlier, Ali worked as director with the ministry. For some time he worked as an officer on special duty (OSD) in the airline and headed a four-member committee to find ways to implement the Dharmadhikari Committee recommendations on integration of Air India and the erstwhile Indian Airlines.
According to ministry sources, Ali’s appointment was under process ever since he was appointed as an OSD in Air India in June.
“A position at the joint MD level had to be created for Ali,” said a ministry official, who refused to be named.
He added that as joint MD Ali will be able to handle Air India’s integration issues in a better way.
Last year, a proposal to create two deputy MDs position was mooted but no concrete steps were taken, he said.
The committee headed by Ali was notified June 19. The government had unveiled June 1 the report of the Dharmadhikari Committee set up to address the contentious human resource issues related to the integration of the two airlines.
Although Air India and Indian Airlines were merged five years ago, there was hardly any integration of the two airlines’ cadres.
The Dharmadhikari Committee recommended the constitution of departmental committees to ensure that promotions were done in a fair manner.