ISLAMABAD: A petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the recruitment of retired Flight Lieutenant Khaqan Murtaza as the director general of the Civil Aviation Authority (DG CAA) that seeks contempt of court proceedings against the government functionaries for making this appointment.

The federal government on Nov 28 appointed Mr Murtaza as the DG CAA.

A notification on the subject issued by the Establishment Division said: “The federal government has appointed Flt Lt (Retd) Khaqan Murtaza, a BS-21 officer of Pakistan Administrative Service, presently posted under government of Sindh, as director general (of) Civil Aviation Authority, under section 10 of the Civil Servant Act, 1973 with immediate effect and until further orders.”

Mr Murtaza was working as principal secretary to the Sindh governor. He was also the chief executive officer of the Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited.

In the petition, Capt Asim Nawaz referring to the Nov 27 order of the IHC alleged that Mr Murtaza, an officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), was not a qualified person for the highly technical and challenging post, especially when Pakistan is facing a ban of the Inter­national Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on flying by the country’s airline pilots to 188 countries.

PPP says govt not interested in reviving PIA

“It’s to bring to the kind notice of this Honourable Court that ICAO has already issued serious safety concerns about CAA Pakistan and if not handled properly according to Inter­national aviation regulatory standards, it would have dire consequences against entire aviation industry of Pakistan,” the petition said, adding that the government has tried to obstruct the process of the court through deceptive skills and got appointed a DG against the rules, regulations and the Supreme Court ruling.

It further said that after PIA A320 crash and a lot of argument / splash on the media against inefficiency of CAA, the post of DG was advertised by the aviation ministry. After that around 600 candidates applied for the post; among them 18 candidates were short-listed and interviewed by the defunct selection board on Oct 14, but no one was selected by the redundant board.

Thereafter, on Nov 7 the secretary aviation informed the cabinet that they could not find a single suitable candidate among 600 applicants, which was false, fabricated and frivolous statement by him (Responsible 1 in the petition), as all short-listed 18 aspirants were much more qualified than the present DG selected against the IHC orders, the petition contended.

The petition requested the court to set aside the notification for the appointment of Mr Murtaza and issue a directive for making this appointment on merit.

It also requested the court to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the officials responsible for obstructing the court order.

The IHC will take up the petition next week.

PPP assails govt

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Peoples Party alleged that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government was not interested in reviving the national flag-carrier and questioned the intent behind the claim made by a federal minister about fake licences of pilots.

“The European Union’s decision to retain its ban on PIA operations in its member countries is another blow to our national airline and is a clear vote of no confidence in two years of gross mismanagement and neglect by the PTI government,” Parliamentary Leader of the PPP in the Senate Sherry Rehman said while talking to a group of reporters here.

She said it was rather shocking that despite the previous suspension, conditions laid down in ART 205(c)(2) of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) regulations were not met by CAA.

She said what was questionable was the government inaction and flat refusal to take responsibility for landing an already troubled airline in such international disgrace. “Nobody takes responsibility for this combination of criminal negligence and indifference to the squandering of our national assets,” she regretted.

Ms Rehman said it was not only the EASA, but the US and UK authorities that had also banned the PIA. She said the national airline was facing huge losses along with being disgraced internationally.

Talking about the fake licence issue, the Senator said the aviation minister had claimed that there were 262 fake licences, but recently the secretary aviation told the IHC that only 28 licences were fraudulent.

“Why then was the airline made to crash by its own minister? Why are Pakistani pilots paying the price all over the world with having their licence brought under a cloud of suspicion, while they lose their jobs and credibility in other airlines? We are still facing the aftermath of such reckless statements, but no one is made answerable in Madina ki Riasat. In any other government many heads would have rolled, but here there is total indifference to public safety, parliamentary caution or moral obligation to be answerable to the people”.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2020