ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday declared the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)'s order revoking the license of a pilot as 'null and void'. A single bench of Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard a petition seeking restoration of a pilot, who was accused of holding a dubious license for his job.

The IHC bench also annulled the order about board of inquiry constituted to probe into the licenses of pilots in Pakistan. Justice Minallah issued these orders, while hearing the petition filed against cancellation of the Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) of pilot, Syed Saqlain Akhtar, who was represented by his counsel, Zeeshan Zafar Hashmi Advocate.

The court directed the authorities to ascertain the blame that who was responsible for preparing the list of 262 pilots, which was given to the federal minister for aviation. The petitioner assailed the order dated 14 July 2020, whereby his ATPL was revoked.

His counsel further contended that he was never confronted with any material relating to the alleged use of unfair means to clear the ATPL theoretical knowledge examinations. The counsel referred to para 3 of the impugned order relating to revoking Akhtar's license, which was supposed to be dealt with by the director general (DG) of the CAA but as there was no permanent DG of the CAA, the matter had to be disposed of by the secretary of the Aviation Division.

The lawyer argued that the posts of secretary of the Aviation Division and the CAA's director general had been held by the same person and, therefore, the impugned order, dated July 14, was not sustainable. He said the order had been passed in haste and that too in violation of the principles of procedural fairness.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020