Supreme Court Takes Notice of PIA Employees With Fake Educational Documents

[Abbas Ali]

Senate Committee on Aviation meeting chaired by Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan has sought details of sacked PIA employees on March 5.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Senate body asks PIA to justify dismissal of employees

Jamal Shahid

February 27, 2019

ISLAMABAD: In order to ensure that the orders of the Supreme Court are implemented in letter and spirit, a parliamentary committee has directed the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to provide relevant documents pertaining to charges against those PIA employees who have been dismissed from services for allegedly submitting fake degrees and to explain the procedure adopted according to rules and regulations governing such actions.

“These documents are necessary for the standing committee to assist in the process and ensure that the dismissal procedure was fair and transparent and aligned with the orders of the Supreme Court,” said Pakistan Muslim League-Functional Senator Syed Muzzaffar Hussain Shah during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation held here on Tuesday.

The meeting was briefed on alleged harassment of employees by the PIA management.

The committee members said that they believed the PIA had dealt harshly with the dismissed employees, such as pilots, cabin crew, loaders, helpers and assistants, and that it had not followed the required procedures for dismissing people from service.

National flag carrier and CAA have been directed to provide relevant documents and explain procedure used for termination of jobs

The committee expressed annoyance over a letter from the attorney general that had advised it against interfering in the PIA’s operations.

Giving advice to the Senate committee or any other such forum did not come under the jurisdiction of the attorney general and he would have to answer his act in the Senate, said chairman of the committee Senator Mushahidullah Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

In its last meeting, the Senate committee criticised the manner in which the national flag carrier dismissed seven pilots and 73 cabin crew for allegedly possessing fake degrees. It said terminating employees’s service was a drastic action, adding that it was not said in the apex court’s order that employees should be dismissed.

Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak urged the PIA management to first take disciplinary action against those officers who inducted employees into the airline without verifying their documents.

The meeting was informed that 710 staff members had possibly submitted fake academic documents during their inductions. Some 467 PIA staff members 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.

The dismissed employees of PIA were given an opportunity to speak their minds. Some of them had admitted their mistakes and requested the management to reconsider their cases on humanitarian grounds. Some dismissed pilots were of the view that they were permitted to fly planes on the basis of their licences and not on their degrees.

A pilot, Captain Shehzad, claimed before the committee that he was dismissed on the basis of a fake result card without inquiry and outside the procedure laid down in law. “I have flown every single aircraft in the PIA’s fleet for last 30 years. I 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,” he said.

Other dismissed staff claimed that they had been sacked despite possessing genuine documents.

During the meeting on Tuesday, the committee chairman was of the opinion that the PIA management should reconsider its decision. “The PIA management should have issued show-cause notices before issuing charge sheets and inquiries and the dismissal of services should come in the end,” he said.

The committee decided to further discuss the matter on March 7 after submission of documents by the PIA management.

Source: DAWN

[Abbas Ali]

Senate panel asks PIA management to explain sacking of employees

Jamal Shahid

Updated March 08, 2019

ISLAMABAD: A Senate committee on Thursday objected to a letter from the attorney general asking it to stay away from the issue of employees laid off by the national flag carrier for possessing fake degrees.

“I cannot understand why the present government does not want to help employees of the Pakistan International Airlines,” said chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation Senator Mushahidullah Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

The committee met again to ask the PIA management to justify dismissal of its employees, including more than 70 cabin crew, seven pilots and some lower-ranking staff members, for submitting fake documents at the time of their induction into the airline.

The PIA management maintains that it is following the orders of the Supreme Court which has directed the national flag carrier to take necessary action against staff for possessing fake academic record.

Nonetheless, in the letter, the attorney general asked the Senate committee not to touch the issue of the dismissal of PIA employees to avoid contempt of court, since the matter is with the court.

“I do not accept any advice from the attorney general unless asked for,” said Mr Khan, calling the letter politically motivated.

According to the chairman, the attorney general took notice of the dismissal of PIA employees after it was reported in the media. It came as a shock to the committee chairman who wondered why the attorney general took notice of this particular issue.

Mr Khan said that he would take up the matter during the Senate session on Thursday evening and raise a question why the attorney general had tried to interfere in the affairs of the committee. “Some people have a problem with the fact that we are trying to solve this problem and do not wish to see it settled,” he said.

In its last meeting, the Senate committee had criticised the manner in which the PIA had dismissed seven pilots and 73 cabin crew for allegedly possessing fake degrees. It said that terminating employees’ service was a drastic action, adding that it was not said in the apex court’s order that employees should be dismissed.

Source: DAWN

[Abbas Ali]

According to news sources:

* PIA management is facing difficulty in implementing court decision.

* Parliamentary committees are pressurizing airline's management not to take action against employees who submitted fake educational documents.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Fake degrees: Senate body divided over fate of PIA employees

MAR 21ST, 2019

ISLAMABAD - The dismissal of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees for possessing fake degrees divided the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation on Wednesday. "There are some employees who have appealed to the CEO of the PIA and I would like him to reconsider their cases on compassionate grounds, especially when a few employees were handed down milder punishments but allowed to continue their jobs," said Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation PMLN Senator Mushahidullah Khan.

However, PTI Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak asserted that individuals who submitted fake degrees at the time of their inductions should be dealt with severely. "Dismissal from job is appropriate for committing the offence of submitting fake degrees. In fact action should also be taken against employees who overlooked forged documents at the time of induction of these individuals," said Khattak. The committee met to discuss the case of the PIA employees who have been dismissed from service for possessing fake degrees.

PPPP Senator Moula Bux Chandio, who earlier had been urging PIA's management to consider their cases on compassionate grounds, remained neutral, saying that the committee has spent too much time discussing this particular case. In the past five meetings the committee has been criticising the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) management for dismissing seven pilots and 73 cabin crew for possessing fake degrees, saying rules were not followed while terminating them from service.

Mushahidullah Khan said that PIA management skipped minor disciplinary actions against their employees for possessing fake degrees and jumped straight to terminating them from service. "It is unreasonable to dismiss them from service after 15 to 20 years in PIA, especially when they have entered a bracket of their lives where they cannot get employment anywhere else," Khan said.

Describing it preferential treatment, he asked PIA to explain in the next meeting why a few employees were allowed to retain their jobs while the remaining were fired.

He directed the management of the national flag carrier to also provide the list of employees who did not ascertain the authenticity of the degrees submitted by individuals applying for positions in PIA. As many as 710 staff members had possibly submitted fake academic documents at the time of their inductions. Some 467 PIA staff members 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 have submitted fake degrees.

Source: brecorder.com

[Abbas Ali]

Senate aviation body to discuss dismissal of PIA staff today

https://www.dawn.com/news/1475225

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

PIA employees dismissed for submitting fake/bogus educational documents staged protest outside Karachi Press Club on April 13. Children of dismissed employees also set their school uniforms, bags and books on fire at the protest site.

The protesters claimed that 250 employees of the airline including pilots, flight attendants, engineers, technicians, officers, peons, cleaners, helpers and drivers have been dismissed.

They announced that in the next stage they'll hold demonstration outside the residence of Prime Minister Imran Khan in Bani Gala in Islamabad and have threatened to commit joint suicide there.

Abbas

[Airborne]

Unbelievable, these people obtained fake degrees and tried to cheat the system and now playing the children’s card. Simply pathetic. No character!

[Pakistan-1]

People with fake degrees should be thrown into jail!

[Abbas Ali]

On April 23, PIA employees sacked for allegedly submitting fake educational documents staged protest at Star Gate, Shahrah-e-Faisal, in Karachi.

A number of them claim that in 2009 and 2010 their educational documents were declared bogus. After that, they completed their education and submitted matriculation certificates that underwent scrutiny. After verification of certificates their jobs in the airline were regularized.

Now, after nearly ten years they are again removed from jobs on the basis of their educational documents declared dubious by authorities.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

PIA employees sacked for allegedly submitting fake educational documents staged protest at Star Gate, Shahrah-e-Faisal, in Karachi on April 26. They were accompanied by their family members in the demonstration.

The protesters complained that Supreme Court judgement is misinterpreted/misused by PIA legal adviser.

In Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) employees with suspicious educational documents were demoted and their salary was reduced.

https://www.express.com.pk/epaper/PoPup ... e=20190427

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Senate body wants leniency towards PIA employees under scrutiny for fake degrees

By Jamal Shahid | 5/8/2019

ISLAMABAD: A Senate committee on Tuesday called upon the PIA management, which has dismissed 121 employees for possessing fake degrees, to be lenient towards the remaining staff under scrutiny for submitting forged academic records at the time of induction.The Senate Standing Committee on Aviation referred to the 12 employees who were allowed to retain their jobs in 2017.

`If PIA took a lenient view for some, its management should show similar compassion to all its employees and retain them.

Instead of laying them off, PIA has a category of minor punishment which can be handed down to employees possessing fake degrees, said committee chairman Senator Mushahidullah Khan of the PML-N.

At present, 377 disciplinary cases are pending against various classes of employees in the PIA for submitting fake or tampered with educational documents. Pilots, cabin crews and low ranking staff are among the 121 against whom final termination orders have been issued.

The committee met for the sixth time to discuss the issue of PIA employees who have recently been dismissed from service. Most of the committee members have held that terminating staff from service was a drastic action.

The PIA management maintains that it is following Supreme Court orders to take necessary action against staff possessing fake academic records.

But members, especially the chairman, argued that the SC had not ordered sacking of the staff.

Air Vice Marshal Subhan Nazir Syed from the PIA informed the members that degrees were not verified until 2006. The verification process was launched when several cases of fake degrees started surfacing.

He informed the members that the 121 dismissed and 377 under-scrutiny employees had submitted fake degrees at the time of their induction. These employees failed to complete their education and submit genuine degrees in the two years grace period given by the previous management.

`Islamabad High Court (IHC) orders are clear that leniency cannot be extended to those who posses fake degrees,` said Mr Syed.

The committee learnt that the IHC had ordered earlier this year that the salaries drawn by the employees appointed on the basis of fake degrees should be recovered from them and the officers involved in granting such relaxation had clearly committed an offence under the law.

The committee was informed that the IHC in its direction had also said the authority, which had granted such a relaxation, had committed a serious criminal conduct which should be dealt with in accordance with the law.

Source: DAWN

[Abbas Ali]

521 PIA employees’ degrees found fake in five years, NA told

BY APP

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Aviation Division Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Thursday said that during last five years, degrees of 521 employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) were found fake, bogus or tempered.

Replying to a question of Ms. Tahira Aurangzeb in the National Assembly, the minister said that out of total, 329 PIA employees have been separated from services till date while 192 employees were on court stay or their cases are under process.

Source: Pakistan Today

[Abbas Ali]

SC dismisses review petitions of PIA employees

Published: May 20, 2019

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed review petitions moved by eight Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees against its verdict in the fake degrees case.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, expressed displeasure over the appellants seeking review of the top court’s verdict, saying the court had been turned into a joke.

A lawyer representing the appellants contended before the bench that the SC’s verdict was being misinterpreted.
“The subordinate courts are not ready to listen to their contention because of the ruling,” he added.

Before winding up the proceedings, the bench issued directives for the relevant courts to deal with such matters as per the law.
Shazia Afridi, Samina Qureshi, Abdul Rauf Baig, Nazar Khan, Kamran Khan, Tahira Sultana, Sana Gul and Shakaib Shaukat had instituted appeals against the verdict.

In January last year, the then chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar had taken notice of alleged appointments of pilots holding fake qualifications. He had ordered the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to have their degrees verified and submit a report.

Subsequently, a large number of employees of the airline were found possessing fake degrees and were dismissed from service.

Source: tribune.com.pk

[Abbas Ali]

Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered verification of PIA employees degrees.

Degrees obtained from private universities came under discussion in the court. Issue of degrees purchased without getting education also raised.

Replies sought from PIA management, CAA, Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Attorney General.

Abbas