By Staff Correspondent
On Monday, Dr Shefali Juneja was announced as the chairperson of the Air Transport Committee (ATC) of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which stands as a specialised agency of the UN, thereby becoming the first Indian in 28 years to do so. India shall chair a crucial committee after 28 years while it has had the opportunity of chairing the ATC only twice so far, said the ministry officials.
Dr Juneja said, “This committee handles a big component of ICAO work relating to air transport as nine technical panels report to it. It is, therefore, a tremendous opportunity to steer issues in the policy arena and deal with new emerging challenges to carve out a better future for international air transport.” The council appoints and defines the duties of an ATC that is chosen from among the representatives of the members of the Council, as per Article 54 (d) of the Chicago Convention.
As specified in the Convention, the ATC is the advisory body of the Council on air transport matters and any other issues that affect air transport referred to by the Council or on its behalf by the President. Juneja was appointed as the chairperson of the ICAO’S Aviation Security Committee (ASC) in September of the previous year and made an Indian take charge of the position after 12 years.
Since 2019, Juneja has been serving as India’s representative in the council of the ICAO. Juneja served as the joint secretary in the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) before joining the ICAO and is a 1992 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre).