ISLAMABAD, April 13: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed Pakistan International Airlines’ decision of fixing retirement age of air hostesses at 35 till the final disposal of its appeal against a judgment of the Sindh High Court (SHC). A three-member bench comprising Justice Rana Baghwandas, Justice M. Javed Buttar and Justice Nasirul Mulk later adjourned the national carrier’s appeal for the second week of May, and directed the airline to submit the record of the case before the next hearing and provide, among other documents, the service regulations of its employees.

The PIA had challenged a four-year-old SHC judgment declaring the regulation which limits the service age of the female cabin crew to 35 years as discriminatory.

The PIA had opposed the SHC judgment on the ground that the national carrier being a public corporation came under the jurisdiction of the Federal Service Tribunal (FST), therefore the case was out of the high court’s jurisdiction.

Earlier, a division bench of the SHC had rejected the same plea of the airline while relying on several precedence and said it had the jurisdiction to hear the case since the petitioners had not challenged terms and conditions of their service but regulation 25 of the PIAC employees rules.

The air hostesses are pleading before the court that retiring them at the age of 35 was discriminatory compared to the retirement age of their male colleagues.

Munawer Azeem adds: Farzana Bari of Pattan has criticized the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for its decision to sack air hostesses of over 45 years of age.

Speaking at a press conference held at Rawalpindi Press Club camp office here on Wednesday, Ms Bari said under the original contract, PIA employees could not go public or hold press conference on any such issue.

She said the policy of PIA was against the Constitution under which both genders had equal rights. In PIA, the maximum working age limit for male employees is 60, whereas for female staff, it has been restricted to 45 years, she added.

The activist said if females were medically fit then why the airline sacked them on the issue of age despite of the fact that no age limit was mentioned at the time of their recruitment.

She claimed that the PIA administration had sacked 130 female employees, including air hostesses and cabin crew, on the basis of age limit.

“The administration is harassing female employees due to the stand they have taken in the court against the PIA appeal.”

She said a few days ago, the PIA management had issued termination letters to 85 female employees. However, just after one day, the management called them back on duty, she added.

Ms Bari said the management stopped the deployment of these air hostesses on international flights, depriving them of the attached benefits.

She said 70 per cent of the cabin crew comprised female staff, however, they were not being properly utilized because of the newly-imposed age limit.