- SC summons PM Abbasi in pilots’ fake degrees case
ISLAMABAD, May 10: Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan, while conducting hearing of the case pertaining to fake degrees of the employees of airlines, on Thursday summoned the chief executive officers (CEO) of all airlines of the country including Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to the apex court’s Karachi Registry on Saturday.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Saqib Nisar gave the directions while heading a three-member bench hearing the suo motu case related to fake degrees of airline employees.
When a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) director informed the court that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also owns Airline, the chief justice remarked that they can call him in his private capacity and not as the prime minister.
“Isn’t it a matter of clash of interests?” asked the chief justice when told that the prime minister is also the head of Airblue. “Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will have to appear in the capacity of a chief executive officer and not a premier.”
The court observed that the complete data from all airlines has still not been submitted to the court, saying that the CEOs should explain this, at the next hearing.
Responding to the court’s query, the CAA official said that only the state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Shaheen Airlines have provided the required data.
When asked by the chief justice about the total number of airlines in the country, the official said there are four airlines in the country at present.
The CAA director said that the court has ordered to verify the data of 1,972 employees of PIA, whereas up till now the data of 225 staffers has been received of which 108’s degrees have been verified. The court was also informed that 24 pilots’ degrees have been discovered to be fake.
The chief justice said that he was issuing notices to heads of all Pakistani airlines as the matter has been pending for the last four months and reports in this regard have not been submitted as yet.
He directed the heads of Pakistan International Airlines, Airblue Limited, Serene Air and Shaheen Air International to appear before the bench.
During the hearing, Civil Aviation Authority Director Nasir Ali Shah told the court that the authority has received the reports on pilots’ degrees from Shaheen International Airline and Serene Air today (Thursday) in Karachi, while the report of Airblue was received on Wednesday.
The chief executive officers of the airlines were directed to appear in person at the SC Karachi registry on Saturday.
Addressing senior counsel Hamid Khan, the chief justice remarked that Hamid Khan should also see how many lawyers have fake degrees.
Hamid Khan answered in the affirmative when asked if lawyers’ degrees should be verified. “You can direct the bar associations to furnish these details,” he added.
The chief justice responded that Hamid Khan should submit a request in this regard so they can hear the case free from a suo motu, adding that it must be done today (Thursday).
However, later during the hearing, the chief justice took a suo motu notice of lawyers holding fake degrees and sought a report on the issue form all bar councils within a month.
The apex court also issued a notice to the Higher Education Commission, directing the officials to cooperate with bar councils on the issue of degrees verification.
The chief justice remarked that there are some lawyers who are practicing law without degrees while others are appearing in the court without licences.-Sabah
