PAA challenged for pensioner categories, allegedly hiding reports that found no evidence of “excess payments”
Pakistan International Airlines airliner. Photo file: Reuters
The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) operates under a single umbrella, but enforces separate rules for its thousands of retired employees. While thousands of retirees receive full pensions and other benefits, over 2,500 employees are deprived of annual pension increases.
According to documents and information obtained by Express News, retired PAA employees have been facing severe financial hardship and destitution for the past five years due to the patchy implementation of pension hikes.
PAA management allegedly violates the rules by creating four different categories for retired employees:
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Category 1: Employees who retired on or before 30 June 2014 and who have received all pension increases regularly until 2025 without a gap.
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Category 2: Approximately 2,280 employees who retired between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2022. They will not receive pension increases for the years 2021, 2022, 2024 and 2025.
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Category 3: 309 employees who retired between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023. They received increases for 2022 and 2023 but are denied increases for 2024 and 2025.
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Category 4: Employees who retired between July 1, 2023 and June 2025. They received the increase in 2023 but have not received the increases for 2024 and 2025.
The current administration that has handled the pension issue for the past five years is the same administration that previously declared the 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 pension increases as “excess payments”.
Today, the same administration at its 18th board meeting approved the pension increases for 2011 and 2015. However, it now maintains that the increases given for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 are “surplus payments” for category 2 pensioners.
The question remains: How can the previous increases (2011 and 2015) be considered correct, while the subsequent increases (2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019) are declared excess for category 2?
Haseeb-ur-Rehman, a senior retired officer of PAA, filed a complaint in the Senate of Pakistan regarding this matter. The Senate conducted a full inquiry and allowed the Aviation Secretary, the Director of Human Resources, the then Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Director of Finance to appear before it.
However, none of them could prove that the pension increases from 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 were “excess”. This report has allegedly been withheld from both the PAA board and the Senate.
Moreover, a three-member committee headed by the aviation secretary also conducted a thorough review but found no evidence of any excess payment. This report has also allegedly been withheld from the PAA Board.
Under the rules enforced in 2014, the same principles apply to all retired employees and discrimination based on the date of retirement is not allowed. The current management’s claim that pension increases do not apply to people retiring on or after July 1, 2014 is legally baseless.
Retired PAA employees Haseeb-ur-Rehman and Afzal have demanded that the inquiry reports be made public. They claim that these employees, who worked tirelessly – even during Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha – to ensure the institution’s growth and billions in profit, are being treated unfairly.
When contacted for comment, the PAA spokesperson stated that the authority has consistently granted pension increases in accordance with applicable federal government regulations and its own service regulations.
Regarding the concerns raised by the pensioners, the spokesperson added that a proposal has been drawn up to resolve the matter, which will be presented for consideration at the upcoming board meeting with the final decision subject to the board’s approval.
