SC dismisses review petitions of PIA employees

Justice Saeed expresses displeasure over move, saying top court has been turned into a joke

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.

Earlier this month, the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation was informed that 121 PIA employees were dismissed while 377 disciplinary cases were pending against others for submitting fake or tampered with educational documents.

Pilots, cabin crews and low-ranking staff were among the 121, who had been terminated.