New Delhi: The much touted Jet-Sahara deal may have crash landed, but as the Government tries real hard to merge two state-owned carriers — Indian and Air-India — Indian airspace might just see a union.
Official sources say that the Government is considering several routes like enacting a law or getting a court order or simply issuing an ordinance for the merger of the two airlines.
The GoM, headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, asked the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) to finalise various options of the merger process.
Although the CoS has offered various recommendations and proposals, they are yet to be considered by the GoM. The GoM's recommendations would then be placed before the Union Cabinet for its approval.
Among the recommendations for the merger is the ordinance route, which was followed in 1953, when the Air Corporation Act was repealed to create the two public sector airlines.
Another option is to bring in a legislation during the Budget Session of Parliament after the Union Cabinet gives its final nod to the proposal.
The Civil Aviation Ministry had set April 1 as the deadline for the merger, which the sources said, could be overshot.
This target date was set assuming that the Union Cabinet would accord clearance to the proposal by the end of this month.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has assured that there would be no retrenchment of any staffer and the managements of the two carriers have already started consultations with the employees.
When the contract for the global consultant for the merger was awarded to M/S Accenture-led consortium to draw a roadmap for the process, it was decided that the pre-Cabinet work would be completed in 10 weeks and the approvals after the Cabinet nod be obtained within the next 16 weeks.
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