ISLAMABAD - Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday issued notices in a petition filed against appointment of non-engineers to the topmost posts in Engineering and Maintenance Department of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
A single bench of the IHC comprising Justice Babar Sattar conducted hearing of the petition filed by Eng Dr Mian Khuram Ahsan against the appointments.
Ahsan moved the petition through Umer Gilani Advocate and cited federation of Pakistan through Secretary Ministry of Aviation, Pakistan International Airlines Corporation through its Chief Executive Officer and Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) through its Registrar as respondents.
He said that PIA has started appointing non-engineers to the topmost posts in its Engineering and Maintenance Department, ie Chief Engineer, Deputy Chief Engineer and Aircraft Engineer. He said that under the PEC Act, only engineers can be appointed to such posts which require the performance of professional engineering work, can only be held by engineers.
“In stark violation of the law and going against the general principles of merit, the national carrier is appointing such persons whose only educational qualification is Matric and who, in many cases started out as “Helpers” and “Cleaners and eventually rose through the ranks through organisational politics,” maintained the petitioner.
He continued that the appointment of non-engineers to the engineering posts is not only a stark violation of domestic law, it could, in fact, endanger the lives and safety of Pakistani citizens and cause potential embarrassment to the whole country. He further said that after filing numerous representations with the respondents, the petitioner, a professor of engineering, has been left with no other option but to knock the doors of this court.
“If PIA continues to appoint non-engineers to the post of Aircraft Engineer, there is a growing risk that the planes might end up malfunctioning and that such malfunctioning might endanger lives, causing a loss of fundamental rights,” said the petitioner.
Therefore, he prayed to the court to direct PIA to ensure that only “engineers” are appointed to the posts of Chief Engineer, Deputy Chief Engineer and Aircraft Engineer, in compliance with Section 27 of the Pakistan Engineering Council Act.
He also requested the court to restrain the PIA from appointing non-engineers to the posts of Chief Engineer, Deputy Chief Engineer and Aircraft Engineer in the Engineering and Maintenance Department and direct all respondents to act in accordance with law.
