RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday imposed fines on Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Airblue and Shaheen Air for delay in verification of degrees of pilots associated with these airlines. It criticised the CEO of PIA for not paying salaries to employees on time.

At SC’s Karachi Registry, a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar took up the issue of verification of degrees of pilots of all Pakistani airlines and reports about planned privatization of PIA. CEO PIA Musharraf Rasool, CEO Airblue Junaid Khan and CEO Shaheen Airlines appeared in yesterday proceedings at Karachi Registry of the Supreme Court.

During the course of proceedings, the CJP inquired from the CEO of Airblue about the number of pilots associated with the airline. Junaid Khan, the CEO Airblue, submitted before the court that airline has a staff of 101 pilots and 251 non-pilots.

The CJP asked CEO Airblue why the verification of degrees of pilots not carried out so far and ruled that contempt of court proceedings would be initiated against him if the orders of the court were not complied with vis-à-vis verification of degrees of pilots. The CJP also made it clear that the court has not summoned the owner of Airblue Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

The court imposed Rs 50,000 as fine on CEO Airblue for not complying with the orders of the court on verification of degrees and directed him to deposit this amount with Fatimid Foundation.

The CJP took strong exception to the delay in payment of salaries to the staff of PIA and asked CEO PIA Musharraf Rasool whether or not he had received his salary. The CJP observed that CEO PIA is taking two million rupees in salary, but he is not worried about payment of salaries to the “poor employees” of PIA. The court sought progress report of PIA. The CEO told the court that PIA has 32 aircraft and have 498 pilots. He told the court that degrees of 369 pilots have been verified whereas 39 have obtained stay orders into verification of their degrees. Court directed CEO PIA to submit a final report about verification of degrees with the court.

The SC also came hard on CEP Shaheen Airline Ihsan Sehbai and inquired the progress on verification of degrees of pilots with his airline. CEO informed the court that process of verification is still underway. The Court also inquired about origin of CEO Shaheen Airline, upon which Civil Aviation Authority officials told the court that he belongs from Canada. The Court observed that CEO is not acting upon its orders. The CJ imposed one hundred thousand rupees fine on CEO Shaheen Airline and directed him to submit the amount with Fatmid Foundation.

Meanwhile, SC sought the report from federal and Sindh governments about officials involved allegedly in illegal activities in Police Department. Deputy Attorney General told the court that investigations against six officials have been completed, whereas former DG FIA Shahid Hayat is also working on investigations against some officials.

Sindh Police official told the court investigations in eight districts have been finalized and name of officials allegedly involved in illegal appointment in police have been sent to Sindh Government.

Court summoned ex-DG FIA Shahid Hayat in the next hearing, which would commence after two weeks time.