Tribunal orders status quo on FIA additional director’s transfer

A federal service tribunal in Karachi has directed the interior secretary and the Federal Investigation Agency director general to file their comments on an appeal of an official of the agency against his frequent transfers.

Bakhtiar Ahmed Channa, additional director (law), FIA, Balochistan Zone, moved the appeal before the tribunal, requesting it to set aside a notification dated September 27, 2023, regarding his transfer to the FIA headquarters in Islamabad.

After the preliminary hearing, the tribunal comprising Tauqeer Ahmed Khan and Shahid Ahmed issued a notice to the respondent authorities to file their comments on the appeal before the next date of the hearing and maintain status quo on the matter till November 15.

The appellant stated that he was transferred to the FIA Balochistan Zone, Quetta, after concurrence from the Election Commission of Pakistan on August 29, 2023.

On October 3, he received his transfer letter dated September 27, he said, adding that the impugned order was issued within one month of his posting in clear violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the landmark Anita Turab case.

Channa said he possessed criteria requisite for promotion to the next scale against the post of director (BPS-20) as the meeting of the promotional board is awaited.

However, he lamented that he has been frequently transferred in the year 2022-2023 due to which he could not earn any performance evaluation report of a minimum quarter (three months), which is mandatory for promotion to the next scale.

He said that if the transfer order was implemented he would be deprived of earning another three months’ PER as not a single PER could be achieved in year 2023.

“The operation of impugned order will be prejudging and jeopardizing the promotional/carrier growth of the petitioner hence it is liable to set aside,” he argued.