Senior bureaucrat BS Bhullar was on Monday appointed chief of aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
He is presently working as Additional Secretary in Civil Aviation Ministry and was also holding additional charge of the DGCA.
The post has been lying vacant for past over four months after M Sathiyavathy, first woman chief of the aviation regulator, was named as new Union Labour Secretary in July this year.
Sathiyavathi, a 1982-batch IAS officer of the union territories cadre, was in September last year appointed as the Director General of Civil Aviation.
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved Bhullar's appointment to the post "by keeping the recruitment rules for the post in abeyance", an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said.
The DGCA endeavours to promote safe and efficient air transportation through regulation and proactive safety oversight system.