The federal government has removed the director general of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), retired Air Marshal Mohammad Yusuf, and an additional secretary in the Aviation Division, Amjad Toor, has been given the additional charge of DG until a formal appointment is made, according to sources.
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Mr Yusuf succeeded retired Air Marshal Khalid Chaudhry, who had been removed from the post by an order of the Supreme Court, and took charge as the CAA director general on Nov 2, 2013.
Mr Yusuf has been removed from the position because he has been slow in completing the tasks assigned to him, according to the sources. He could not expedite the modernisation and up-gradation required to bring Pakistan’s aviation industry at par with those in the developed countries. He also did not take action against the CAA officials who were not working efficiently. A press release issued by the CAA says: “The change of DG CAA was made to accelerate completion of development projects undertaken to modernise aviation industry in the country in line with international standards and to put all ongoing projects on fast track.” Citing an example of the pace at which Mr Yusuf worked, the press release said: “A number of development projects like expansion and renovation of the Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad and Lahore airports were to be undertaken on fast track, but work on none of these projects has started yet.”
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Other projects, like completion of the new Islamabad airport, installation of modern systems (ILS CAT IIIB) at Lahore and Islamabad to enable aircraft to land in foggy conditions; and modernisation of Air Traffic Control Communication and Surveillance System, got inordinately delayed due to failure of the top management to take stern action against non-performing officials of the CAA, said the press release. The New Islamabad International Airport required special attention and dedication to complete the remaining work on infrastructure and equipment installation and make the airport operational in 2016, said the press release, suggesting that Mr Yusuf could not exhibit the dedication demanded of him. However, the press release ended with a positive note about the outgoing director general and said: “Air Marshal Mohammad Yusuf is a man of integrity and high moral values.”
