ISLAMABAD: More than three dozens officials of Pakistan Customs Service have moved the Islamabad High Court against a minimum condition imposed for time scale promotions.
As many as 37 Superintendents of Collectorate of Preventive Services, Karachi, filed the petition in the high court, stating that the notification is unjustified as they have already completed at least three-years of service in basic pay scale grade BPS-16 and hence are fully qualified for being promoted to the next grade, BPS-17 and if not promoted, many of them will retire before they complete another three years’ of service.
In the petition, the officials contended that the issue of conditioning promotion to three years’ of service arose due to misapplication of the notification December 22, 2015, read with Finance Division’s Officer Memorandum of December 18, 2015.
The counsel stated in the petition that the petitioners had been working in BPS-16 since January 1, 2013, and have thus completed the prescribed length of three years of service on December 31, 2015. Hence, they are fully qualified for promotion into the next grade without waiting for three more years.
He said that the petitioners have been promoted as Superintendent Preventive Service (BPS-16) in the same scale through different notifications from May 11, 2016, to January 2, 2018, from the post of Inspector Preventive Service – another BPS-16 post.
“If a BPS-16 Inspector Preventive Service is promoted in the same pay scale (BPS-16), that is as Superintendent Preventive Service in BPS-16, it cannot be called a promotion,” the petition argued.
The petitioners have sought the IHC’s intervention in the matter and listed the secretary of the Revenue Division of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Finance Division secretary, Establishment Division secretary and the Collector Model Customs Collectorate of Preventive, Customs House Karachi as respondents in the petition.