Shefali Juneja, India’s representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), has been elected as the chairperson of United Nations’ specialized aviation agency’s Air Transport Committee (ATC). Juneja, a 1992 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre), served as a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) before joining the ICAO.

India secured this position in ICAO after 28 years when Juneja was unanimously elected to the post on Monday. She is the first woman to represent India in the ICAO. ATC is a standing committee of the ICAO created by the Chicago Convention in 1944.

“It is the most important committee (of ICAO), as it decides on standards in air transport policies,” India in ICAO, tweeted, adding “India wins the coveted position in ICAO to become – Chairperson of Air Transport Committee, after 28 years. Representative of India, Dr Shefali Juneja gets unanimously elected in Council today.

Congratulating Dr Juneja, Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted, “Great News! This solidifies India’s position in the global aviation ecosystem and strengthens our journey towards becoming the largest civil aviation market. Congratulations, Dr Shefali Juneja & @MoCA_GoI team for your commitment & hard work.”

MoCA officials said that India will be chairing the important committee after 28 years and has had the opportunity of chairing the ATC only twice so far.

“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,” Dr Juneja said.

According to Article 54 d) of the Chicago Convention, the Council appoints and defines the duties of an ATC, which is chosen from among the representatives of the members of the Council.

India is set to emerge as the third largest aviation market globally by 2025. The country’s representative has held this position twice in the 78 years of ICAO’s existence, in 1987 and 1994.

In September last year, Juneja was elected as the chairperson of the ICAO’S Aviation Security Committee (ASC) and made an Indian taking charge of the position after a gap of 12 years. Juneja has been serving as India’s representative in the council of the ICAO since 2019.