LAHORE - A three-member Supreme Court took up a case pertaining to the fake degrees of pilots and crew members of the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) and other private airlines at the apex court’s Lahore Registry on Friday.

The bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar was informed that the PIA administration had fired 50 pilots who failed to furnish their educational record. An interim report was submitted to the bench by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The report revealed that five PTI pilots have not passed even matriculation examinations.

It revealed that degrees of seven pilots were found to be fake while five pilots had not completed even their high school studies. Jusitce Ijazul Ahsan remarked during the hearing that a person sans matriculation certificate was not even authorised to drive a bus while under-matric pilots were flying the planes.

Likewise, the chief justice said that passengers’ lives were being put in danger by permitting such persons to fly the planes.

A counsel representing the PIA submitted that the airline’s administration had fired 50 pilots who failed to furnish their academic records. The top court also directed the authorities concerned to complete the process of degree verification and submit the final report on the matter. The court allowed the national flag carrier to hire pilots on contract basis. The court also sought entire details of the pilots’ licenses.

Earlier, the apex court had directed the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to complete the process of verification of pilots and cabin crew members’ degrees yesterday.

The counsel representing authority had told the court that degrees provided by many pilots and employees were unreadable. On which, the bench said that those had not presented legible degrees be fired.

The court was informed that the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Multan had verified 161 staff’s degrees while the BISE Faisalabad verified 89 degrees.