PESHAWAR, May 23: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday withdrew its earlier order wherein it had directed the federal government to suspend the director general of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The court also directed that CAA director general should avoid influencing any investigation into the incidents of air crashes of private airliners of Airblue and Bhoja Air by international experts.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth accepted two review petitions filed by the federal government through defence secretary and CAA director general, requesting the court to recall its last month’s order whereby the federal government was directed to immediately suspend the director general as he had not complied with some orders of the court in a writ petition related to the Airblue plane crash of 2010.

The high court had on April 25, five days after a plane of Bhoja Air crashed in Rawalpindi, issued the order and observed that CAA had failed to comply with its orders about conducting safety audits of all passenger aircrafts of PIA and private companies.

That order was issued in a writ petition jointly filed by former MNA Marvi Memon and some family members of the passengers, who were killed in the July 2010 Airblue plane crash that had left 152 people killed.

The court had ordered that the director general should remain under suspension till the inquiry by foreign experts regarding the Airblue plane crash was completed and a similar probe carried out and completed in Bhoja Air crash.

The bench on Wednesday directed that CAA director general should not exercise any influence on the independent inquiry boards, which would be investigating into the planes crashes of Airblue and Bhoja Air. Strict action would be taken against him if he failed to comply with those directions, the court observed.

Senior legal officer of CAA, Obaidur Rehman Abbasi, and CAA’s counsel Shakoor Paracha contended that Director General Nadeem Yousafzai was posted against the said post only 19 days before the Bhoja Air crash. They said that soon after assuming charge, he had taken several steps to comply with orders of the high court.

They stated that CAA had approached International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to comply with the court orders regarding conducting safety audit of all the aircrafts of PIA and private airliners.

Similarly, they added, the CAA had also requested ICAO to send a team of international experts for conducting inquiry into the Airblue plane crash as the high court had turned down the earlier investigation report.

They said that presently restructuring was in progress in ICAO, therefore, the safety audit was delayed.

Advocates Afnan Kundi and Tanveerul Islam appeared for the ministry of defence and said that in compliance with the court’s order the secretary defence had moved a summary to prime minister for suspension of the director general.

They said that the ministry had sent a letter to CAA on Feb 15 for complying with the court’s order and subsequently an official of the authority had communicated with the ICAO.

They also requested the bench to modify its last month order to the extent of suspension of CAA director general.

Senior advocate Abdul Lateef Yousafzai appeared for the Airblue, whereas Advocate Umer Farooq Adam appeared for Ms Memon. They opposed the plea of CAA and ministry of defence.

However, the bench observed that they had no locus standi in the instant two petitions and it was up to the court to decide whether to modify its earlier order or not.

Nadeem Yousafzai and a joint secretary of defence, Iftikhar Mir, also appeared before the court.

The court would take up for hearing the main petition on May 30. Secretary Defence Nargis Sethi and CAA director general are likely to appear in person as the court had issued them contempt of court notices last month.