SC summons Abbasi among all airlines CEOs for tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday summoned Chief Executives Officers (CEOs) of all airline companies including Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for Saturday in a matter relating to fake degrees of pilots.

A three-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, resumed hearing in a suo motu notice on fake degrees of pilots and issued notices to the CEOs of country’s three private airlines including Airblue Limited, Serene Air and Shaheen Air International.

In January, the CJ had directed the director general (DG), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Karachi to produce the record of movement of private aircraft on all airports during the last 15 days.

The CJ had also directed the official to submit the inquiry report pertaining to appointments of pilots having fake degrees or certificates.

During the course of proceedings, Sajid Ilyas Bhatti, deputy attorney general, to a court query, stated that apart from national flag-carrier, there are three private airlines operating in the country including Airblue Limited, Serene Air and Shaheen Air International.

The CJ asked as to why the report regarding pilots of Airblue was not yet submitted and who its head is.

The court was informed that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is the chief executive officer of Airblue.

The chief justice inquired as to why data regarding its pilots was not yet submitted.

The CJ said that it is not a matter of clash and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi should appear before the court in the capacity of a CEO of his airline and not as a prime minister and inform as to how many his pilots have fake degrees.

The chief justice observed that the matter had been pending for the last four months and directed the heads of Pakistan International Airlines, Airblue Limited, Serene Air and Shaheen Air International to appear before the bench.

Meanwhile, Nasir Ali Shah, Director Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), informed the court that they received the reports on pilots’ degrees from Shaheen International Airline and Serene Air on Thursday in Karachi, while the report of Airblue was received on Wednesday.

The court was informed that 24 pilots and 67 crew-members of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had fake degrees. It was further informed that seven out of 24 pilots have stay orders from the court and added that verification process of 1,972 PIA employees and their degrees had been completed. 17 pilots of the national airline had resigned or left their posts, the seven remaining are continuing on the basis of their stay order.

Later, the court summoned CEOs of all national airlines, including Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi at the apex court’s Karachi Registry on Saturday. During the hearing, the chief justice also took notice of fake degrees of lawyers and observed that many lawyers were practising without degrees, adding that there were some who were appearing before the courts without law practicing licences. The CJ directed the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) to submit a comprehensive report before the court.