Is CAA collapsing like PIA?
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif deserves appreciation for approving recommendations of committee on Restructuring and Rightsizing for the merger and dissolution of 82 government departments and State Owned Enterprises. Closure of PWD and utility stores all over the country is another positive step. In view of thousands of super stores established throughout Pakistan utility stores had become redundant therefore it is timely and wise decision. The reason for rightsizing is to ensure stoppage of extravagance when country is living on loans. But at the same time it is regretted to point out that Aviation Division’s decision to bifurcate Civil Aviation Authority into Pakistan Airport Authority and Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority has negated the spirit of rightsizing and downsizing and is contrary to Prime Minister’s decision to reduce the size of SOE’s some are being bifurcated un necessarily to create more top positions and to add to expenditure which is otherwise on much higher side. The salary structure is such as if we are oil rich kingdom. To improve working of CAA and PIA the first aviation policy was introduced in March 2015 by Aviation Division approved by Mian Nawaz Sharif. It is true we badly needed a new aviation policy to bring improvement in aviation sector to attract more investment, unfortunately this was designed for personal benefits therefore it met with failure. Before formulating any new policy lot of spade work is required in which all stake holders are to be consulted that include CEO of airlines operating from Pakistan, GSA of all airlines, Travel Agents Association representatives of civil society, media tycoon. Unfortunately, no such exercise was conducted. Formula of cut and paste was used to produce new policy document. The old policy focused mainly on two points. To encourage private sector participation and secondly out sourcing major airports. This policy proved disaster as personal interest was preferred over national interest. CAA at that time was generating over Rs 60 Billion a year with roughly one billion expenditures per month even then outsourcing was made key factor, one can understand the logic behind such move. The employees of CAA rightly opposed the outsourcing and it had positive impact. However, Aviation Division in 2019 brought new policy making some changes in old policy of 2015. The major departure in formulating new policy was changed in which all stakeholders were consulted and both were on one page. More airlines, more revenue, more ease of doing business, more revenue, more benefits to airline, more traffic and more traffic means more revenue. CAA failed to bring back airlines who closed their operations due to security reasons and neglecting their reservations. What could be bigger tragedy of this country that for 2 years there was no DG CAA and Secretary Aviation was assigned the additional duty not covered under the rules otherwise it falls under category of conflict of interest. An ad for DG CAA was floated on 4 July 2020 and large number of candidates applied but later on ad was cancelled because it was tailor made. In Jan 2020 CAA was trifurcated to improve the working whereas it was already trifurcated in a different way without creating posts of 2 Additional Director Generals and 3 Deputy Director Generals making it too heavy when CAA’s activities were reduced due to coronavirus. This organization has suffered badly from 2012 to 2018 due to gross mismanagement massive corruption and political interference and wrong HR policies. As a result, a constitutional petition 33/2013 was filed by Asif Fasihuddin Vardag against illegal appointment of DG CAA. Supreme Court declared it illegal ab initio in September 2013. While declaring it illegal it said that appointment must be made on merit and FIA was directed to probe corruption of billions of rupees in New Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad. Unfortunately, it is a dilemma that even Supreme Court decisions was not implemented and even now is being violated. Even CAA Board cannot approve any vacancy until and unless CAA Ordinance is amended through legislation. When CAA could function without DG CAA for 2 years, was there any justification in creating more jobs that too when very few airlines were operating from Pakistan? We cannot expect miracles when dental surgeon is asked to carry out heart surgery. Organizations efficiency does not depend on creating more jobs at senior level but on their performance in handling air traffic and manning airports on international standards, secondly how can you improve the micromanagement without having its concept for that you have to motivate the lower staff to give their best and not make top heavy. Changing of designations has resulted in creating army of additional directors. It cannot be Pakistani agenda, we have seen how we destroyed our national assets Pakistan Steel and pride of the country PIA under the cover of restructuring. When PIA was suffering losses with one statement of our former aviation minister that 262 pilots holding fake licenses ruined our national airline and reputation of our senior competent pilots and the country at large. Later on this news turned to be incorrect but the damage was colossal and beyond repair. As a result, European Union Aviation Safety Agency banned two Pakistan Airlines including USA and Britain besides large number of pilots lost their jobs working with various airlines. Now we are after CAA When we had over 30 airlines in Pakistan CAA gave excellent results under one DG and one Deputy DG fetching revenue around Rs 60 billion that has now jumped over Rs 100 billion
Once again post of Director General Civil Aviation Authority appeared in national dailies on 10 August 2024. In this fresh advertisement it also looks tailor made to accommodate some senior 21 grade bureaucrat with age limit 57 years. The careful scrutiny of the advertisement particularly para 1(b) is very interesting that says 25 years’ experience in management and administration. Aviation is a specialized and technical industry therefore the post must be filled with person having rich experience in aviation and not in management and administration with age limit 50 years so that he serves and contributes towards betterment of CAA at least for 10 years and not a person who is 57 years old to continue in service after attaining age of superannuation. The best candidate can be picked up from regular directors from within CAA or from outside having expertise in aviation field. CAA has chequered history of heading most technical post of DG by nonprofessionals mainly due to political considerations. The downfall started with Farooq Rahmatullah who spent millions of rupees in giving CAA corporate look. As a matter of record When CAA was handling more than 30 airlines there was one DG and one Deputy DG post that was reserved for PAF officers. Now when the workload is less we have two DG’s and three Deputy DG’s and 12 Directors for which there is no justification. PIA suffered due to top heavy and fleet of directors and general managers. The efficiency of any organization is not measured with the number of senior top heavy officers and breaking the organization in to different sections to open doors for fresh employment causing extra burden when money is badly needed by the government but on their performance and good governance. As a regulator CAA has failed to provide proper facilities to travelers. CAA is at verge of collapse like PIA.
CAA is gold mine thriving on aeronautical charges around 80% of total revenue earned without any effort that does not mean to waste money on bifurcating the authority into Pakistan Airport Authority and Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and destroying basic structure of CAA when economically Pakistan is in deep crisis. We have experienced directors who are competent enough to perform any technical job related to aviation industry. In fact, there are anomalies in the CAA Bill passed by the parliament. In Chapter II para 10(1) it says that Prime Minister may, in the manner prescribed by the rules appoint an officer in the service of Pakistan ( that means non professional) or an officer of the authority etc. Time to revisit manpower of CAA and stop extravagance by creating superfluous top posts and its bifurcation at the cost of poor people tax money. Let us stop experimentation of robust strong organizations like CAA of the country and save money for the sake of new generations instead sinking their future under avoidable expenditures.
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