Fake degree row: Senate panel asks CAA to reinstate remaining 82 pilots

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel, on Tuesday, recommended the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to restore the remaining 82 pilots – who were sacked for holding fake degrees – within the next 15 days at all costs.

The Senate Standing Committee on Rules and Procedure which met here with Muhammad Tahir Bizenjo in the chair, recommended that 82 pilots –sacked for possessing fake degrees by the previous government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – be restored.

Some 180 pilots had already been reinstated, while the committee was reviewing the cases of the remaining 82 pilots, as many of them have been facing issues without any apparent reason.

The committee extensively discussed the breach of privilege case of the sub-committee of the Senate standing committee on aviation.

The breach involved the director-general CAA giving false assurances to the sub-committee, obstructing members in the discharge of their duties, and not implementing decisions of the house in violation of rule 196, which the committee noted, amounts to disobedience of orders of the house and its committees.

Senator Saleem Mandviwalla informed the committee that the sub-committee was overseeing the resolution of issues related to the revocation of pilots’ licenses.

Despite assurances given in meetings and the acquittal of pilots from criminal cases, the DG CAA is reluctant to implement not only the committee’s recommendations but also overruled the court’s decision on September 5, 2023.

The special judge (central)-II, Karachi, rendered a decision and acquitted all pilots with FIRs registered against them. Currently, no criminal or legal case is pending against any of these pilots.

The committee deferred the matter for two weeks.

Furthermore, the committee was briefed on the privilege motion moved by senators, Naseebullah Bazai and Shafiq Tareen against the president of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) for not attending the meeting scheduled to be held at the NBP building in Karachi despite being present in the same building.

The NBP president tendered a written apology before the committee for his misconduct. The committee accepted the apology and deferred the deliberation on the matter until the next meeting.

This is pertinent to mention that back in 2020, an official inquiry revealed that almost 30 per cent of pilots in the country hold dubious licenses and fake education qualifications.

The then aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan had told the parliament that there were 860 active pilots in the country working with domestic commercial airlines – including the national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

He had claimed that 262 of the pilots “did not take the exam themselves” to get a pilots’ license and instead paid someone else to appear on their behalf, but within a short span of three years, all the pilots allegedly having fake degrees were reinstated.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023