Faiz Ahmed Kidwai Transferred From DGCA To DoPT, Vir Vikram Yadav To Take Charge As The DG

Mumbai: The aviation regulator is set to see a change at the helm as Faiz Ahmed Kidwai has been transferred from his position as Director General of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Vir Vikram Yadav will step into the role, which has faced severe scrutiny in the past year over the Air India crash, IndiGo's operational crisis and other regulatory decisions.

In a major bureaucratic reshuffle targeting key administrative positions, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved a series of high-level transfers and appointments on Tuesday, primarily reshaping the leadership at the DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA).

The reshuffle targetted Indian aviation regulator's chief, which was helmed by Kidwai from January 2025. A 1996-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, Kidwai faced severe scrutiny over his role at the DGCA.Kidwai was expected to resolve the issue of flight duty time limitation (FDTL), which was successful only after the judiciary's intervention as the DG failed to convince the airlines to follow the rules.

Moreover, the series of unfortunate aviation events in India, including the Air India crash in Ahmedabad that killed 260 people, IndiGo's operational crisis in December that saw thousands of flights being cancelled and other regulatory issues caused the DGCA to attract criticism in the past one year. Kidwai will now take charge as Additional Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which falls under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

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Vir Vikram Yadav, a 1996-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre, will step into the role of DGCA. Yadav has moved to the aviation watchdog from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), where he was serving as Additional Secretary. His appointment comes at a time when the DGCA is intensifying oversight on airline accountability and safety protocols following several operational challenges in the past year.

The ACC also approved the appointment of Puneet Kansal as Additional Secretary at MoCA by temporarily upgrading a vacant post of Joint Secretary within the Ministry to the rank of Additional Secretary. This move is expected to strengthen the administrative framework within the ministry with senior-level expertise to manage the rapid expansion of India's aviation sector and upcoming infrastructure projects. Kansal, a 1996-batch IAS officer of the Sikkim cadre, was previously serving in the Cabinet Secretariat.

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