ISLAMABAD: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) seems reluctant to take action against its officials holding fake or bogus degrees.

According to an audit report on the financial matters of the CAA for the year 2014-15, the authority spent Rs2.07 million on the verification of the educational credentials of its 13,848 officials.

In response to the queries by the CAA, various universities examined the degrees of its employees.

While the verification of 2,547 is still under process, the CAA was informed that 83 of its employees had fake degrees while the degrees of three officials were found tampered.

“As per standing instructions by the federal government, all departments, organisations under the administrative control of the federal government are required to verify the educational degrees/certificates from the respective universities/educational boards or institutions,” the report added.

It alleged that the CAA did not take action against the officials inducted on the basis of fake or bogus degrees. These officials were recruited due to the negligence of the CAA management as neither the degrees were got verified at the time of their appointments nor any action was taken after the CAA learnt about the fake degrees.

The report said the auditors in September 2015 had pointed out the irregularity and the CAA had promised to take action against the fake degree holders.

The report said the CAA at a later stage took action against only 12 officials.

Un-authorised contract of Rs20bn project

The audit report claimed that the CAA management awarded the contract of a Rs20 billion project for the construction of the passenger terminal building at New Islamabad International Airport to the joint venture (JV) of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) and the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).

The JV agreement indicated that M/s CSCEC had 70pc share in the contract whereas the firm was registered with the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) in the field of specialisation of roads and pavements.

The nature of work for the project was entirely different as it included the erection of the huge steel structural concrete, architectural work, glazing and electrical and mechanical works, the report stated.

The report added that the award of the contract to a non-specialised JV caused slow execution of the work and inordinate delay in its completion.

The report recommended an investigation into the matter and action against the persons responsible.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2016