The judge made it clear that the CAA chief could face contempt proceedings for not complying with the top court. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
Upon resuming hearing of a three-year-old case on Friday, the Supreme Court summoned the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) chief for ignoring the court’s orders and not extending the requisite services to Pakistani expatriates at national airports.
Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, the head of a three-judge bench, said the apex court had taken suo motu notice of the plight of overseas’ Pakistanis at airports on June 27, 2011.
“We expected that the situation would have now improved. But nothing has been done in this regard,” he said, basing his observation on a recent overseas trip. No visible step has been taken to resolve the difficulties of passengers, he continued.
The judge made it clear that the CAA chief could face contempt proceedings for not complying with the top court’s directives in this case.
Earlier, the CAA’s director commercial Asif Bashir told the bench that the department was taking all possible measures to ensure smooth and safe handling of passengers, especially Pakistani exapatriates along with their luggage at all the country’s airports.
“We are bound to comply with the international aviation treaties. Therefore, no rule can be formulated in violation of international treaties,” he said.
The bench, however, rejected his stance and observed that every employee of the CAA was an authority and that overseas Pakistanis, who send home remittances worth $16 billion, were being humiliated.
Justice Khawaja noted that the CAA was just trying to satisfy the court by submitting a bogus report. He also pointed out that if most people could not understand foreign languages then why were announcements at airports were not made in Urdu.
In June 2011, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja had taken suo motu notice on the basis of his personal observation at the Islamabad airport, where he had seen luggage of overseas Pakistanis falling off the conveyer belt and authorities not resolving the complaints of passengers.
The court had then summoned a detailed report on the policy regarding award of licence to the ground-handling agencies at airports, copies of the agreement between the CAA and the agency and steps taken for facilitating the passengers.
The hearing of the case is adjourned till May 23.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2014.
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