Yuvaraj Adhikari, executive chairman of Nepal Airlines Corporation, is going to be dismissed from his position for overlooking the aviation safety of the carrier even after getting a lot of warnings from concerned authorities including Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
CAAN has begun the process of removing an officer from an accountable manager as the first stemp to dismiss him from the system. Director-General of the Authority Pradeep Adhikari has initiated the removal of the executive chairman officer of the corporation from the accountable manager.
The executive officer has made three vital departments associated with security leaderless. The corporation’s Duty Maintenance Department, Continuous Airworthiness Management Organization, and Corporate Safety Department have been rendered leaderless. These departments are crucially associated with aircraft maintenance and safety.
Six months ago, the corporation grounded the managers of the Duty Maintenance Department and Continuous Airworthiness Management Organization.
The aircraft flying from Nepal to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, had returned from Pakistan airspace. There were technical problems with the system that warns about nearby aircraft during flights in the TCAS system. Afterward, the aircraft returned to Nepal.
In that incident, the corporation grounded D.K. Sanjel from the Maintenance Department and Upendra Paudel from the Continuous Airworthiness Management Organization. Once grounded, they were not assigned any responsibility by the corporation management.
The Authority has not approved the file, stating that the proposal to assign responsibility to Bikas Thapa, who has little experience as Safety Director, has not been approved.
“There has been gross negligence in aviation security. Therefore, preparations are being made to remove the officer from the accountable manager and send a proposal to remove the officer from the executive chairman in the Ministry of Tourism and the Council of Ministers,” said the authority source.
After the European Union (EU) prepared its audit report, the Director-General of the Authority asked the officer why he should not be dismissed within seven days, stating that the corporation was not dismissing the officer for gross negligence in aviation security.
Meanwhile, he was immediately summoned by the then Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Sudhan Kirati for questioning. When questioned, the process of purchasing the Twin Otter aircraft went into uncertainty after the Commission was uncertain about the process of purchasing aircraft.
It has been said that due to the conditions, as well as the Minister’s support, the officer did not make efforts to improve aviation security.
According to a senior official of the Aviation Security Department of the Authority, the decision to remove the officer from the corporation has been reached. “The serious negligence that the corporation has been committing in aviation security cannot be ignored anymore,” he said. “We cannot overlook the matter concerning human life. Therefore, steps have been taken to remove him.”
The EU had considered the corporation’s serious negligence in aviation security as a major reason for removing Nepal from the safety black list.
Officer Adhikari has not only been negligent in aviation security but has also been engaged in activities that financially burden the corporation. As of December 15, an aircraft that had been grounded earlier has not yet been repaired by the corporation. The date for returning the aircraft leased from Israel for maintenance is still uncertain. The aircraft that the corporation profits from is still grounded.
Two wide-body and two Twin Otter aircraft have caused a loss to the corporation. The corporation has not been able to recover the installment of the loan taken to buy the aircraft, which has increased from Rs. 34 billion to nearly Rs. 50 billion.
Keeping in mind the proper operation of the purchased aircraft, the game of bringing the aircraft on lease in wet lease in the weight-list for commission agents is going on. For that purpose, the corporation had already invited tenders.
The officer’s plan to commission the purchase of the Twin Otter aircraft has been thwarted. As disagreements arose in the Ministry of Finance, the technical proposals of the companies that participated in the tender invited before Dasain were failed.
The officer, in an attempt to cover up his weaknesses, has also confused the political leadership. He had given false details about the corporation’s profits to the then Tourism Minister Aale. Whereas, the high-level committee formed under the leadership of former Governor Deependra Bahadur Kshatri had clarified in the report presented on the second Saturday of Ashoj that the corporation had incurred a loss of Rs. 2 billion 16 crore in the last fiscal year.
The officer has also understood the hint from Baluwatar that he cannot avoid dissatisfaction. Therefore, he has been assigned the role of vice-chairman by the authority as an easy point to dismiss him.
The officer was appointed for four years on Kartik 11, 2078. In the proposal submitted by the then Tourism Minister Aale, he had asked the officer about the clarification on Jestha 16, 2079.
As the clarification did not satisfy, an interim order was issued by the Supreme Court not to implement the decision to dismiss on Asar 6. A month after that, on Saun 19, 2079, the officer was dismissed by the corporation as per the court order.
