Nasim Zaidi to join Jet Airways board as non-executive director

 New Delhi:Former Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi will join Jet Airways board as a non-executive director and the government has given him the security clearance, according to the airline.

A seasoned bureaucrat, Zaidi has served as Chief Election Commissioner, among other positions.

Besides, the board has recommended appointment of banker Sharad Sharma as a director, the airline said in a filing to the BSE.

"Our nominations and remuneration committee has recommended the appointment of Nasim Zaidi, a distinguished bureaucrat to our board and his security clearance was approved by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on March 26, 2018," it said.

Zaidi would be a non-executive director at the full service carrier.

The airline said it would be appointing Zaidi as a board member at the next board meeting on May 23.

On May 7, the airline wrote a letter to MoCA seeking security clearance for Sharma, the filing said.

Among other roles, Sharma has served as managing director of State Bank of Mysore.

Currently, Jet Airways board has ten members, including non-executive chairman Naresh Goyal.

Harsh Mohan, Kevin Night and Anita Naresh Goyal are the non-executive directors. Gaurang Shetty is a whole time director.

The airline's board has five non-executive independent directors, including former Civil Aviation Secretary Ashok Chawla and former Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai. Others are Vikram Mehta, Rajshree Pathy and Srinivasan Vishvanathan.

Mehta is chairman of think tank Brookings India, Pathy is chairman of Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals and Vishvanathan was managing director and CEO of SBI Capital Markets.

Shares of Jet Airways closed almost flat at Rs 511.90 apiece on the BSE.