Abbasi, other CEOs summoned by SC

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday summoned the chief executive officers (CEOs) of all the airlines of the country, including Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, to appear in-person before the court in Karachi Registry on Saturday.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the suo motu case pertaining to pilots’ fake degrees. The PM Abbasi is being summoned as the CEO of Airblue.

At the onset of hearing, when Director Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Nasir Ali Shah apprised the court that Premier Abbasi owns Airblue, the Chief Justice remarked that whether or not it is not a matter of clash of interests.

He said Premier Abbasi will have to appear in the matter in the capacity of Airblue’s CEO and not as the prime minister. He said the case has been pending for the last four months and despite court’s directions, all airlines have not submitted their complete data.

He then issued notices to the CEOs of all the airlines of Pakistan, which include Pakistan International Airlines, Shaheen Air International, Serene Air and Airblue.

The director CAA stated that PIA, Shaheen Air International and Serene Air had submitted the required data, pertaining to pilots’ degrees, with the CAA in Karachi today (Thursday). He said data of Airblue’s pilots was received in Karachi on Wednesday.

To a court query, the CAA official stated that the court had directed to verify the data of 1,972 employees of PIA. He said data of 225 employees has been received and out of it 108 degrees have been verified so far, adding that the degrees of 24 pilots are found fake.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing until Saturday when the matter will be heard at Karachi Registry.

Meanwhile, the Chief Justice noted that there are lawyers who are practicing law on fake degrees, while some others are appearing before the courts without valid licenses.

He, then took suo motu notice of fake degrees being possessed by lawyers and directed the bar councils across the country to submit a report on the matter within a month.

The court also issued a notice to the Higher Education Commission, directing it to cooperate with bar councils on the issue of degrees’ verification. The Chief Justice asked senior lawyer Hamid Khan whether some lawyers are also practicing law on fake degrees. Hamid Khan then replied in the affirmative and stated that lawyers’ degrees should also be verified.