F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Aviation was informed on Wednesday by the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL) that the national flag-carrier was dealing with 1200 fake degree cases of its employees; out of the total 18,000.
The committee meeting, chaired by Senator Mushahidullah Khan, was apprised that verification of educational credentials of PIACL employees was an ongoing process, under which it found 700 certificates and degrees fake.
Out of which, 402 employees had been terminated, 35 cases are under process of disciplinary proceedings, whereas 263 employees approached the court of law for stay order and more suspected degrees are being verified, PIACL Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ejaz Mazhar told the body.
Director General Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Hassan Baig informed the committee that the authority had suspended the licences of pilots and cabin crew members having fake academic credentials, while directives have also been issued to suspend the licences of all pilots and cabin crew members who had not yet submitted their degrees and certificates.
The committee recommended initiating criminal proceedings against those who were responsible for verification of the degrees at the time of appointment, but did not verify credentials of the newly inducted employees.
The committee took a strong note of absence of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL)’s CEO from the meeting proceeding as he was supposed to answer legislators’ queries about performance of the airlines.
Commenting on an incident of breakage of passenger seat in business class of PK-786 allocated to Senator Samina Saeed while travelling from UK (Heathrow) to Islamabad on December 16, last year, the COO apologized and said seats had been repaired while two officials of engineering department had been issued show cause notices for the negligence.
About an incident of Passengers Boarding Bridge/Jetty 5 collapse at the Islamabad International Airport, the committee was informed that a board of inquiry had been constituted to ascertain reasons of collapse of the bridge.
Taking up the matter of cracks appeared in the building of Pakistan Customs at the Islamabad Airport, the committee recommended to get evaluation report from third party, preferably NESPAK, to identify flaws and reasons behind the damage to newly constructed building for fixing the responsibility. The chairman constituted a sub-committee headed by Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo and comprising Senators Sherry Rehman and Samina Saeed to look into the fake degree cases and the bridge collapse incident, with the task to prepare a comprehensive report on the issues.
Among others, the meeting was attended by senators Sherry Rehman, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Haji Momin Khan Afridi, Nauman Wazir Khattak and Faisal Javed, aviation minister Mian Muhammad Soomro, aviation secretary, DG CAA, PIACL COO and other senior officials of the departments concerned.
