Court orders: PIA lays off 300 employees over fake degrees

Case of another 50 employees pending before the court.

KARACHI:

The national flag carrier laid off 300 employees who had submitted fake educational certificates to secure jobs, Pakistan International Airlines said on Friday.

Authorities said this drive to weed out fake degree holders was in compliance with Supreme Court’s orders.

Meanwhile, another 50 employees have been terminated from service. However, their cases are still pending before the court.

“This gigantic task of verification of credentials of around 16,000 employees was taken up by PIA’s Human Resource Administration Department six months ago (October, 2013),” the airline said in a statement.



The credentials verification process is being held across the board in a transparent manner, encompassing all categories and groups of employees without any discrimination, it further read.

“So far more than 30,000 degrees have been dispatched to concerned educational institutions (Universities and Boards) for verification.”

While PIA has expedited the verification process, it can only initiate enquiries after replies are received from educational institutions.

Another 50 employees have also been sacked but their case is pending before court.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2014.