ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has issued directives for initiating inspection of educational degrees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees and directed the authorities to submit a report after the verification process had been completed, said media sources.

The top court’s two-member bench headed by the Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed also issued notices to summon Attorney General, PIA managing director and chairman of Higher Education Commission (HEC) in the next hearing.

During the hearing, the lawyer told the supreme court that the employees had earned educational degrees from a private university of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) without attending a single class.The lawyer said that on the basis of such degrees, the workers had also earned departmental promotions.

The judge of the top court noted that Al-Khair University [AJK’s] is just an exhibitory institution as degrees have been sold out without completing educational procedures. It seems the degrees [by the PIA employees] were illegally possessed, whereas the airline also accepted private university degrees [without conducting the verification process], the judge added.

The administration of the national flag carrier was directed from the recognized institutions to ensure verification of their employees’ educational degrees.

The hearing was postponed until one month later after directing the authorities concerned to complete inspection of PIA employees’ educational degrees.