UB Group chairman and Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya and Air Sahara chief executive officer U K Bose were on Monday honoured with the Distinguished Fellow Award, 2003.

Mallya and Bose share the award with M S Ramachandran, chairman, IOC, and T K A Nair, chairman, Public Enterprises Selection Board.

The award is given to eminent persons who have contributed significantly to corporate and national development.

Najma Heptullah, national chairperson, Institute of Directors, gave the awards at the institute's annual foundation day celebrations in New Delhi.

In his acceptance speech, Mallya said the country's transition to total quality management benchmarks could be accelerated by making ''training'' a mindset, as opposed to the coercive environment in which it was taking place currently.

''Total quality management also needs to be wedded to quality ethics in governance, both corporte and public,'' he said.

The winners of the award, instituted in 1991, are selected by the IOD's standing council, which comprises eminent personalities like Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Dr Najma Heptullah and former Supreme Court Chief Justice A M Ahmadi.

President A P J Abdul Kalam, former central vigilance commisioner N Vittal, Delhi police officer Kiran Bedi and former chief of the Army V P Malik are among those who have been conferred with the award in the past.

(UNI)