SHC restrains PIA chief Air Marshal Arshad Malik from working as CEO
KARACHI: A two-member bench of the Sindh High Court has stopped Air Marshal Arshad Malik from working as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) till Jan 22.
The order was issued on a petition challenging the appointment of Arshad Malik as CEO by Safdar Anjum, who is the general secretary of one of the associations of PIA senior staff/employee.
The bench headed by Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui also issued notices to respondents as well as the deputy attorney general for January 22.
The bench in its order said that the contentions raised by the petitioner’s lawyer merited consideration, particularly the apparent titanic gulf between the CEO’s education, qualification and experience and the job requirement.
In the meanwhile, the bench said that the PIA chief, chief human resource officer and the airline’s board of directors, through its chairman/CEO, were restrained from carrying out any function as well as encumbering or disposing of assets of the national flag carrier valued over Rs 10 million.
The petition submitted that he was filing the petition in the public interest and for enforcement of fundamental rights of all the members of the association and general public since the PIA was a national asset.
Impleading the PIA CEO, the federation through principal secretary to the prime minister, secretaries of the cabinet and aviation divisions, PIA and others as respondents, the petitioner stated that the Air Marshal Malik was a senior serving officer of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and his appointment as the PIA chief was made in utter disregard of law laid down by the apex court in its Aug 3, 2018 judgement against the appointment of the then CEO.
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