Will HAL give in to outsiders directorship?

BANGALORE: On Tuesday Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) received a jolt when Director (Corporate Planning and Marketing) and former Chief Test Pilot Squadron leader Baldev Singh committed suicide.Following the suicide of its honcho, for the first time in its history, HAL is considering the possibility of having a chairman, who is not from within their ranks.The interviews for the post of chairman is scheduled to be held by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) on Thursday (October 13) in Delhi.But unlike other years, there are no eligible candidates in the list shortlisted by HAL.The five shortlisted candidates for the post of director are— S N Misra, PCDA (Navy) Mumbai; S S Mohanty, PCDA (IAF) Bangalore; N R Myneni, CMD, MIDHANI, S K Tripathi, CMD, MSTC, Mumbai and R K Tyagi, CMD, Pawan Hans.Incumbent chairman Ashok Nayak, is due to retire by October 31, but he has applied for an extension. Though the Defence Minister has the power to approve an extension, it will be for a maximum of three months only.According to the sources, Nayak is lobbying with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for an extension. But the chances seem to dwindle for Nayak with the suicide of Baldev Singh.Though the actual cause for Singh’s decision is unknown, sources close to Singh have hinted at ‘work pressure’ and ‘bad treatment meted out to directors’ as the cause.Adding to this, highly placed sources within the company have stated that barring two directors, all the other directors of the company are against the extension of Nayak.It may also be observed that Nayak, who took over his current post on April 1 2009, has not held a press conference or interacted with the media so far.Sources said that Nayak has barred officials from talking to the media and has imposed dictatorial measures to ensure no information is shared outside the organisation.HAL does not have a public relations wing and it was reconstituted as the Corporate Planning and Marketing department.Meanwhile, T S Raju, current GM, HAL, was interviewed for the post of Director— Design and Development by PESB.Chickballapur Police to Meet Singh’s FamilyA team of Chickballapur police will visit the city to speak with family, friends and employees of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in connection with the suicide of Sqn Ldr (Retd) Baldev Singh.Police said that purpose of the visit is to ascertain the actual reason for Baldev Singh’s suicide. Baldev Singh had left from his residence on Old Madras Road at 8 am in his Maruti SX-4 car. He had cancelled a meeting scheduled to be held in Delhi on Tuesday.