The Sindh High Court dismissed on Tuesday a petition against the Civil Aviation Authority over the suspension of pilots with fake licenses. Justice Khadim Hussain Shaikh said that the court cannot put lives at risk by allowing these pilots to continue flying planes. He told the petitioner to take back the petition and warned him that he may receive a fine otherwise. The petition was filed by pilot Waqar Ahmed. He had said that the list of fake pilots issued by CAA included his name. Ahmed claimed that he obtained his flying license from the authority but didn’t work with PIA. He has, therefore, demanded that the list should be declared incorrect and his name be removed from it.Responding to him, the court said that a decision will only be taken after the inquiry into the matter is completed. “The court cannot interfere into the investigation, neither can it endanger the lives of people by letting the pilots fly,” Justice Shaikh said. On the other hand, the CAA on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of the licenses of 21 pilots working for other airlines in Karachi. The action was taken after an international airlines company had written to the authority regarding the verification of the licenses of these pilots. Of these, 18 pilots work for Oman airlines and the remaining three for Hong Kong airlines. Further license verification for airlines of Bahrain, UAE and Vietnam is under way.
