Essential Services Act enforced on PIA and here s what it means

ISLAMABAD – The government has enforced the Pakistan Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1952 on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) as the privatization of the carrier continues. 

The act was enforced for six months, granting the national carrier the authority to take punitive action against employees who don’t comply with lawful orders.

This is not the first time that the act has been enforced as the national carrier faced similar actions in the past especially when the employees staged protests and tried to jeopardize the flight operations.

The enforcement of the act by the Ministry of Interior will remain in effect for six months and a notification issued in this regard states that the act aims to ensure uninterrupted operations of the airline.

The act applies to all employees who fail to comply with lawful orders issued during their employment or attempt to persuade others to do the same.

The piece of legislation also covers employees who abandon their jobs without reasonable excuse, absent themselves from work, refuse to work, or leave a designated area without proper authorization.

According to this legislation, any employee convicted of an offense could be sentenced to a maximum of one year in prison and might also be liable to pay a fine.

It bears mentioning that the government has decided to privatize the carrier for which 8 business groups have submitted Expression of Interest (EoI). 

The interested entities include Fly Jinnah (represented by Arif Habib Corporation), Shonksi China CIG Ltd, Jiri International Pvt Ltd, Airbloom Limited, Younis Brothers Holdings Consortium, Pak Ethanol Consortium, and Blue World City Consortium; the groups have submitted their Statements of Qualification and Expressions of Interest within the stipulated time.

As the interested parties have submitted the documents, the Privatization Commission will conduct a pre-qualification process as per the Privatization Commission Ordinance rules, and those found suitable will be taken to the next phase of privatization.

It is to be highlighted that the decision to privatize the national carrier was made during the previous caretaker regime headed by Anwar Ul Haq for which the government had hired a consultant who had submitted a comprehensive report in this regard.

As far as the timeline is concerned, the incumbent government has reiterated to complete the process by June this year; however, there could be some delay in the completion of the process.

Meanwhile, the government has also decided to outsource three airports in the country i.e. Allama Iqbal International Airport, Jinnah International Airport Karachi, and Islamabad International Airport; the process to outsource the airport in Islamabad is already underway with plans to outsource the facility for 15 years.