Chief justice asked the defence ministry to inform the court as to why the positions in question at PIA were not filled by following the set procedure .
The court directed the federal government and the defence secretary to inform the court on the next hearing whether the appointment of the incumbent chairman and managing director of PIA has been made in accordance with the law.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was hearing a petition filed by former MNA Marvi Memon. In his order, the chief justice asked the defence ministry to inform the court as to why the positions in question at PIA were not filled by following the set procedure – calling it one of the key reasons behind the deteriorating situation of the airline.
“This is not a part-time job. The government is not itself interested in appointing a full-time MD and PIA chairman,” the chief justice said.
The Chief Justice also pointed out that the due procedure has never been followed in PIA while appointing general sales agents and passenger sales agents abroad and in Pakistan, respectively. “After reviewing the ground realities, it is not difficult to understand as to why PIA’s condition is deteriorating day by day,” the chief justice said.
The court was informed by PIA’s counsel Raja Bashir and PIA General Manager Marketing Saleem Raza that the airline suffered losses of around Rs100 billion at the end of 2011. The Chief Justice stated that according to a Transparency International report, it is likely that the losses in PIA will increase to Rs150 billion this year.
The court was informed that only 28 planes are operational out of 40 in the 37 international destinations. International destinations had earlier been reduced from 45 to 37, due to lack of business. The court was astonished to hear that there are over 17,000 permanent employees in the airline for only 28 planes. It was also surprising for the court that 551 pilots have been engaged for 28 planes. “It is a simple thing that corruption is at its peak in PIA, that’s why such ahuge number of people have been appointed against a few flights,” the Chief Justice stated.
The court also directed the PIA management to present the latest report of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on the airline by the next hearing on January 14.
The CAA law officer, Obaidur Rehman, also submitted an existing report on PIA while informing the court that the authority declared PIA at number 10 in a safety audit of 183 countries.
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