Pak CJ reprimands PIA officials over flight delay

Lahore: Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has taken the state-run Pakistan International Airlines` top management to task after his flight from Lahore to Karachi was delayed.

The top judge, who is known for taking suo motu notices of even petty matters, "held a court" at the Lahore airport yesterday after he had to wait for three hours in the lounge due to a delayed flight, officials said. The angry Chief Justice summoned all top PIA officers at Lahore International Airport and reprimanded them, holding them responsible for the delay of his flight. Lecturing them, Chaudhry said: "The delay in flights of PIA has become a routine and nobody is bothered about what is happening to the national flag carrier. My flight from Islamabad to Lahore had also failed to take off at the scheduled time on Friday." A PIA official said the flight on which the Chief Justice was to fly was delayed due to a fault in the hydraulic system of the aircraft. He said engineers were called in from Karachi to repair the fault. The PIA officials, however, felt they had gotten off lightly as the Chief Justice did not order the government to suspend them. "Thanks God, we got away without any punishment," said one official who did not wish to be named. PTI