KARACHI: The Directorate General Transit Trade is reeling from an acute shortage of staff because there is no sanctioned strength of BS 1-15 officials.
A letter sent to the second secretary (Mgt Cus-IV), Federal Board of Revenue, Islamabad requesting to ascertain the total number of BS 1-15 seats in each grade and vacancies thereof – be it through recruitment or promotion quotas many months ago and reminders thereof have been unable to solve the issue.
The said letter, and the reminders, requested that the directorate general may be provided with sufficient sanctioned strength for BS 1-16 officials as already requested via a letter sent in November 2013.
The letter had also pleaded the cases of the officials working in the directorate satisfactorily, but were drawing salary and are on the strength of their parent departments, may also be considered for promotion from the strength of their parent organisation, as the case may be, on merit and as per the law so they are not being deprived of their legitimate right of promotion.
Sources told Customs Today that absence of sanctioned strength was depriving the directorate to function to best of its capability. They claimed that a similar situation persisted at the Quetta and Peshawar border points of the directorate.
