Fake degrees: Senate body asks CAA, PIA to furnish documents

The Senate Committee on Aviation has sought documents from Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pertaining to charges against the employees who have recently been dismissed from the service in the wake of fake degrees.
The committee was chaired by Senator Mushahidullah Khan in which the committee ensured fair dealing with the expelled employees as directed by the Supreme Court.
The committee, which believed that PIA and CAA dealt harshly with employees such as pilots, cabin crew, loaders, helpers and assistants, etc, for submitting fake degrees during their inductions, met here for a briefing on harassment of PIA employees by management. The committee observed that due procedure was not followed in dismissing the personnel.
The committee also expressed annoyance over a letter from the Attorney General that advised the Senate Committee on Aviation not to interfere in PIA's operations.
In the last meeting, the committee criticised the manner of dismissal of seven pilots and 73 cabin crew of the national flag carrier for possessing fake degrees. It argued that terminating staff is drastic. Nowhere did the Supreme Court order dismissing staff with fake degrees.
Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak urged the PIA management to take disciplinary actions against the staff who inducted employees without verifying documentation first, before firing staff with fake degrees. "The hidden hands behind these inductions must be highlighted," said the PTI senator.
Nonetheless, the meeting was informed that 710 staff members possibly submitted fake academic documents during their inductions. Some 467 PIA staffers were dismissed, another 201 obtained stay orders from lower courts against their dismissals, and another 42 are facing disciplinary actions. The meeting also learnt that 16 pilots of all local airlines had submitted fake degrees.
Most of the expelled staff requested to keep them on humanitarian grounds.
They argued that pilots were permitted to fly on the basis of their licences and not on the basis of their degrees. They believed that the same was true for other such PIA staff.
A pilot, Captain Shehzad alleged before the committee that he was dismissed on the basis of a fake result card without conducting an inquiry and fulfilling procedure laid down in law. "I have flown every single aircraft in PIA's fleet during the last 30 years and have flown presidents and prime ministers, and have been an instructor, examiner and trained pilots. I was exonerated in 2016, however I have been dismissed on the same basis," the former PIA employee said.
The chairman committee said that the PIA management should have issued warnings to staffers before expelling them, as dismissal from job should be the last resort.