Sathiyavathi, a 1982-batch IAS officer of the UT cadre, has been appointed as the Director General of Civil Aviation for three years till 2017. She is likely to take charge on Monday.
The regulator would now on also carry out "heightened" surveillance of all SpiceJet flights on landing to ensure that safety is not compromised due to its financial troubles
The three aircraft -- two Airbus A-320s and a Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ), were grounded after the safety surveillance found "significant and substantive" lapses in them, official sources said.