MUMBAI, Dec. 21 -- The operational meltdown by IndiGo, India's largest airline, in the first week of December has brought back to the fore the need for experienced specialists running the country's aviation regulator and not let it stay the revolving door for government bureaucrats at its helm.

Experts have raised concerns that ten generalist officials have served at the top office at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the last 17 years-all serving or retired bureaucrats, lacking specialist knowledge critical in running a sector like aviation, from the government's elite Indian Administrative Service, or IAS, cadre.

The last non-IAS officer to head the DGCA was Kanu Gohain, a technocrat who rose through the ranks of the...