SC tells PIA chief to bring pilots case to court
July 22, 2020 01:52 AM
The Supreme Court on Tuesday told PIA Chief Executive Officer Arshad Malik to bring the pilots case to the court and the court will look into it.
The top court passed these remarks during the hearing of fake licences case when Malik said the PIA grounded 17 pilots in January 2019, but they obtained a stay order from the court and now they are receiving huge honorarium while sitting at home.
Last Friday, the PIA received a list of five fired pilots but two of them obtained stay from the Sindh High Court, he said in reply to the SC queries over political postings and actions against pilots with bogus documents.
He told the court that the PIA has to wait for CAA proceedings for such an action. The PIA will not wait even for a day once the regulatory authority cancels the licences, the CEO said, adding that the national airline had taken action against officials who got job with fake documents.
He continued: “So far 750 officials has been suspended, 15 pilots with bogus credentials has been suspended while the documents of nine are being scrutinised.
“The airline has presented a comprehensive human resource management plan to the government so that the issue of overstaff could be resolved.”
Arshad clarified that foreign asset were not being sold. He said the national airline has been working on closed properties abroad to make them a source of income through renting these out.
Malik said the PIA has been working for bringing in reforms and human resource management and difficult decisions are being taken for bettering the national carrier.
Last month, the Supreme Court took notice of the matter when the issue of pilots with bogus credentials made headlines. A five-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed heard s the case.