KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday issued notices to the ministries of law, aviation and finance as well as other respondents on a petition filed against proposed privatisation of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

An employees’ union of the PIA and the Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan (SAEP) have jointly moved the SHC and submitted that the federal government was taking steps to privatise/sale the PIA and the Privatisation Commission had also appointed a British firm as financial adviser for this purpose.

Referring to some rulings of the apex court, the petitioners contended that only an elected government could take major policy decisions.

They asked the court to declare all actions taken by the caretaker set-up for the privatisation of the PIA null and void and without lawful authority.

They also impugned the amendments in the PIAC (Conversion) Act, 2016 authorising the federal government to issue fresh shares or cancel any shares as it may deem fit.

They argued that such an amendment was made in violation of the company law and the authority in this regard was not vested with the government; whereas the impugned amendment had also been carried out to facilitate the privatisation of the national flag carrier.

After a preliminary hearing, a two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi issued pre-admission notices to the respondents for April 3.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2024