Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Senators, on Wednesday, failed to wind up the issue of employees with fake degrees working in the national carrier.

Senator Mushahidullah Khan favoured the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) workers while other members urged for their dismissal in a meeting of the senate standing committee on Aviation.

The meeting was presided over by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator, Mushahidullah Khan, who termed the expulsion of such PIA employees, contrary to the law.

The PIA staffers were said to be being laid off on the basis of a Supreme Court verdict however no such order had been given.

He also mentioned that the employees were being terminated without following the set rules and regulations. The code suggested as many as eight punishments for fake degrees holders and considered dismissal as the last resort.

Why then was the PIA management jumping to the last option?

“We should not snatch someone’s bread and butter,” the PML-N senator added while noting there were other punishments available with regard to fake degrees.

In a previous meeting, the committee had decided that its member, Senator Muzafar Hussain Shah, would check all details of employees and resolve the issue.

However, he was absent from today (Wednesday) meeting while Senator Mushahidullah claimed that the details provided to the committee were insufficient.

He also questioned why some PIA employees had been issued show-cause notices in 2014 but terminated after four years in 2018.

The PIA Management responded that it was because some of the employees had gotten a stay order on the notice and action was taken once it was cancelled.

“Our state is not a welfare state, therefore there should be some leniency for fake degree holders PIA employees, who had 10 to 20 years of experience,” the Senator remarked.

On the other hand, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator, Samina Saeed, claimed that fake degree case was similar to forgery. Since there was a proper law against it, action should be taken accordingly.

PTI Senator, Numan Wazir Khattak, also said that action should be taken against the PIA who employed these people on fake degrees. He said that these employees had thwarted the rights of those applicants who had proper qualifications.

He asked PIA Management to take strict action against fake degree holders while suggesting to register a first information report (FIR) in this regard.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Maula Bukhsh Chandio said that any action taken against the law would not be tolerated. He added that if a pilot was found holding a fake degree, he should be removed from the job. However, an employee having experience of 10 to 20 years in the organization should be given some leniency, he maintained.

The committee deferred the matter till next meeting and demanded the PIA Management to provide a list of those officers who had appointed these employees without checking their credentials.

During the meeting, the committee also checked and approved 28 developmental projects of the Aviation Division under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) 2019-20 worth Rs 6.244 billion. 10 projects were approved while 18 were unsanctioned.