Government terminates the contract of DG Civil Aviation

The government of Pakistan has terminated the contract of Director General Civil Aviation Authority Air Marshal (retired) Asim Suleman. Air Marshal (R) Asim Suleman, was facing a revolt at CAA against his heavy-handedness that turned into an ugly crisis in recent months. The crisis started when in an unprecedented move, almost the entire senior management of Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) revolted against Air Marshal (retired) Asim Suleman.The notification issued from the cabinet secretariat establishment division dated 1 March 2018 says that “the competent authority is pleased to terminate the contract appointment of Air Marshal (retd) Asim Suleiman, Director General Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), under Aviation Division, from the date of his superannuation with one month salary in lieu of the notice period”.

This closes one of the ugliest episodes in the history of PCAA as the outgoing DG CAA was accused of “insulting” his subordinates who called him “mentally” unfit for the job. Matters became so worse that at one point the Principal Staff Officer to DG Tashfeen Ashraf asked the DG to relieve him from his current job. Before that, the Pakistan Air Traffic Controllers Guild (PATCG) also joined hand with the senior management of PCAA in support of their call to remove DG from his office. In a letter written by its President Muhammad Javed Hameed, PATCG also complained about the behaviour of the Director General CAA and extended full support to calls for his ouster.

In a letter written to the Secretary Aviation in January, all the regular deputy director generals and directors have complained that they are being treated in “humiliating and abusive” manner so they will not offer any support to the Director-General. PCAA is the only airport operator in Pakistan that manages all the airports in Pakistan. And in a unique fashion its also regulates, monitors and regulates all civil aviation activities inside Pakistan.

Pakistan aviation hopes that government will appoint a competent official with the sound understanding of the Aviation business as the new Director-General of CAA. In the past government has been appointing retired military of airforce officials as the DGs of this very important authority. The airports in Pakistan present a dismal state and they regularly appear in the worst airport list in the world. There is a dire need to break from this practice and separates CAA’s regulatory business from its services business.