A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation was held at Parliament House on Thursday with Senator Hidayatullah in Chair, where the Committee maintained that the Supreme Court has nothing to do with the management of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
While deliberating on the Supreme Court’s recent decision which allowed the national carrier to recruit 205 skilled employees. PIA officials informed that the apex court has allowed PIA to recruit cabin crew, IT professionals, and 80 pilots on a contract of one year.
Officials stated that the major impediment that lies in the Supreme Court’s decision is that a cost of $15,000 to $20,000 incurred on the initial 8 to 10 months of training of pilots and there is no legal binding which barred the pilots from joining other airlines after the initial contract of one year.
The Senate Committee maintained that Supreme Court has nothing to do with the management of PIA and directed the PIA to share the Court decision with the committee in the next meeting.
The Senate Committee adopted the report of the Sub-Committee constituted to resolve the issues of pilot licenses. Senator Saleem Mandviwalla termed the former Aviation Minister’s claim of ‘fake pilots’ as ill-advised and stated that it has served a big blow to PIA and the country globally.
He suggested that Civil Aviation Authority should resolve the matter in the ambit of its rules without the interference of FIA and the Courts.
The Senate body was briefed on the details of flights canceled from all airports of Balochistan in the last two months. PIA officials apprised that 49 flights were delayed in the month of April and 9 flights were delayed in June.
However, the delay occurred due to financial and crew constraints and the flights will be normalized after the completion of the Hajj operation, the officials assured.
Mandviwalla suggested that PIA should engage private airlines so that the passengers could be accommodated. The committee recommended the PIA to draft a viable flight plan for Balochistan and decided to invite the private airlines to the next meeting.
In addition, the committee took up the matter of PIA employees’ appointment on fake degrees. FIA officials apprised that challan in 15 cases against the 260 nominated employees have been submitted, however, the Special Committee on Affected Employees has directed for the withdrawal of cases.
Chairman Committee Senator Hidayatullah maintained that employees bearing fake degrees should not be spared at any cost and the recommendation of the standing committee should be implemented.
Moreover, the committee expressed dissatisfaction with the details of employees submitted by the PIA. The chairman committee directed that complete details with experience and present posting of employees should be submitted in the next meeting.
Senator Dr. Afnan Ullah Khan inquired about the number of active pensioners drawing pensions from Pakistan International Airline Corporation (PIAC) and how much pension is being given to widows of employees. PIA officials apprised that, as of now, 15,000 employees are drawing pensions out of which 5,000 are widows who have been paid Rs. 2,000 to 3,000 every month.
The committee recommended that the pension of widows should be increased to Rs. 5,000 as the current amount is not sufficient for the maintainability of the family.
The meeting was attended by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, Senator Umer Farooq, Senator Dr. Afnan Ullah Khan, and senior officers of the Ministry of Aviation, PIA and FIA were also in attendance.
