The Sindh High Court (SHC) has ordered status quo in respect of appointment of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency’s (NCCIA) Sindh director till further orders.
The interim order came on a petition filed by NCCIA Sindh provincial director Shahzad Haider against his transfer and the posting of a junior officer as the director.
The petitioner’s counsel, Zamir Ghumro, submitted that the petitioner was on the first place of the seniority list and was holding the charge of NCCIA senior director and under the law, no junior officer could be posted in his place as this had already been held by superior courts.
He submitted that under the amended Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), the cyber wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had been abolished and all the staff sent to the NCCIA.
The counsel submitted that sending the present director of the Sindh NCCIA, who was an employee of the NCCIA, to the FIA was a violation of the section 29 of Peca, which barred such transfers as the FIA had now no concern with cybercrime.
He submitted that the federal government could not violate its own law by posting provincial directors at its whims and wishes.
The counsel submitted that under the Section 8(B) of the Appointment, Promotion and Transfer Rules 1973 of the federal government, only senior additional director could be posted as a provincial director in case of non-availability of a grade 20 officer.
He said the government, on the one hand, was delaying promotions of officers and on the other hand, it was posting junior officer in place of seniors although such practice had been deprecated by superior courts.
The counsel said the NCCIA had violated the law by posting a junior officer which showed that the law would be misused against citizens.
He said the NCCIA was a newly created body under the amended law and it should have shown its bona fides instead of violating the law with its very inception.
He argued that the amended Act did not allow the NCCIA to send its employee to the FIA, and this action was both discriminatory and without jurisdiction.
He said Peca ensured provincial representation and such sensitive issues needed to be settled under the law strictly.
He argued that the NCCIA had been created to control cybercrime and it should protect people’s rights by abiding the law in every respect. He submitted that the transfer and posting of the provincial director in violation of the law would affect the morale of the staff transferred to the NCCIA from the FIA.
A division bench of the high court headed by Justice Omar Sial after a preliminary hearing of the petition issued notices to the FIA and others and in the meantime ordered status quo in respect of the transfer of the petitioner till the next date of hearing.
The petitioner’s counsel said that in the light of the court order, the petitioner would continue to work on the post as he was the senior-most additional director at the NCCIA.