SALAHUDDIN CHAUDHRI (MEMBER).--The appellant, Muhammad Said Ahmed Khan, is a U.D.C. (B- 7) in the office of the Director, Telegraph and Telephone Audit, Karachi. His grievance is that the respondents have unjustifiably refused to relieve him to join as Accounts Assistant (B-11) in his parent department of Director, T&T Accounts, Lahore, in spite of the orders of his promotion to B-11 issued by the competent authority with the approval of the relevant Departmental Promotion Committee. Through this appeal he seeks redress.
2. The facts giving rise to this appeal are that the appellant initially joined the office of the Comptroller, Post, Telegraph and Telephone, Karachi, as Lower Division Clerk in 1968. He was promoted Upper Division Clerk in 1972. In March, 1976, under the orders of the Auditor General of Pakistan, the appellant and some others were sent on deputation to the Directorate of Budget and Accounts, Pakistan Public Works Department at Karachi.
3. In 1976 the office of Comptroller, Post, Telegraph and Telephone, Karachi, was reorganized and redesignated as Accountant General, Post, Telegraph and Telephone with Head Office at Lahore. As a result of this reorganization the staff of the Comptroller, Post, Telegraph and Telephone, Karachi, and the Deputy Comptroller, P.T. & T., Lahore, were merged. In 1981 the office of the Accountant General, Post, Telegraph and Telephone, Lahore, was bifurcated into the Directorate of Post Offices, Accounts, Lahore, and the Directorate of T & T Accounts, Lahore. The appellant was placed on the strength of the Director, T & T Accounts, Lahore, now the subordinate office of the Director General, T & T., Islamabad. During the period the reorganization had taken place, the appellant remained on deputation in the Directorate of Budget and Accounts, Pak. PWD, where he had been since 1976.
4. In December, 1981, the appellant's parent department requested the Director, Budget and Accounts, Pak. PWD, to repatriate all officials including the appellant, on deputation with him. The officials to be relieved were directed to join the office of the Senior Accounts Officer Overseas, Telecommunication Region, Karachi. In compliance, the appellant joined the Overseas, Telecommunication Region, in January, 1982.
5. Under their letter dated 6-2-1983 the Director, Telegraph and Telephone Accounts, Lahore, requested the Central Telecommunication Region, Karachi, to obtain consent from the officials who had joined that office on being relieved by Pak. PWD if they would be willing lo repatriate to their parent department in case they were offered promotion to a higher post. The said letter is reproduced hereunder;- "OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR TELEGRAPH & TELEPHONE ACCOUNTS, LAHORE.
NoADMN/T&T. A/Cs/45-81/424 Dated 6-2-1983 To The Senior Accounts Officer, Telecommunication Region, Block No,18-A, PAK. Sectt. Karachi.
Subject: CLAIM FOR PROMOTION FROM U.D.C. TO ACCOUNTS ASSTT. (GRADE 11 BY MRS. AZRA SULTANA TAIMURI, U.D.C.
Please refer to your office letter No,IIA/Q-II/82/2C dated 19-9-1982 on the above subject.
The following officials of this office, who were working on deputation in Directorate of Accounts and Budget, Pak P.W.D. Karachi were relieved by that office to join your office w,e,f, 1-1-1982.
1 Mr. Muhammad Kamil QuraishiAA.
2 Mr. S. Zafar Ahmed AA.
3 Mr. Muhammad HamidullahAA.
4 Mr. Zahid Qureshi AA.
5 Mr. Muhammad Saeed Ahmed KhanU.D.C.
6 Mrs. Azra Sultana TaimuriU.D.C.
The consent from each of the abovenamed officials may kindly be obtained and sent to this office within a fortnight to the effect that if their names are considered for promotion to the higher posts and approved by the D.P.C. they will have or have no objection to repatriation to this office.
Sd/- (Muhammad Mushtaq), Accounts Officer."
The appellant gave his consent on 2-3-1983 which alongwith the consent of some others was sent by the Telecommunication Region, Karachi, to the Director, T & T Accounts, Lahore, under its letter dated 9-4-1983. About a year later the case for promotion from B-7 to B-11 in the Director, T & T Accounts, Lahore, was taken up and the A.C.R. dossier of the appellant was telegraphically summoned from Karachi on 21-5-1984 for placing it before the Departmental Promotion Committee scheduled to meet on the 31st of May, 1984. This was sent to Lahore on the 27th of May, 1984. On 3-6-1984 the Director, Telegraph and Telephone Accounts, Lahore, sent the following letter to the Senior Accounts Officer, Karachi:-- "Subject: Promotion as Accounts Assistant of Mr. Muhammad Said Ahmed Khan, Upper Division Clerk.
Please refer to your letter No, ITA/E-17/82/62, dated 27-5-1984. The name of Mr. Muhammad Said Ahmed Khan, SA.C. has been approved by the Departmental Promotion Committee for promotion as Accounts Assistant (B-11). He may be asked to report for duty in this office in case he desires promotion."
On receipt of this letter the Senior Accounts Officer, International Telecommunication, Karachi, proposed vide his letter dated 9-6-1984 to the General Manager, Telecommunication Region, Karachi, that formal transfer orders from the Director-General, T & T, Islamabad, be obtained before the appellant was relieved to take up the higher post of Accounts Assistant (B-11) in the parent department where his lien existed. The said letter reads as under:-- "Subject: Promotion as Accounts Assistant of Mr. Muhammad Said Ahmed Khan, Upper Division Clerk SA.C.).
The Director. T & T Accounts. Lahore informed this office vide his ffic memo. FA-H 45-1 3-6-1984 (copy enclosed for reference) that Mr. Muhammad Said Ahmed, S.A.C. of this office having lien in his office has been selected by the D.P.C. for promotion as Accounts Assistant (B-11) and requested this office that the official may be asked to report for duty in his office in case he desires promotion.
Mr. Muhammad Said Ahmed Khan desires his promotion in B-11 and as such he is to be relieved by this office. It is, therefore, requested that the matter may kindly be taken up with the Director- General, T & T, Islamabad for obtaining necessary formal transfer orders which may be communicated to this office to relieve the said official."
Accordingly, a reference was made to the Director-General at Islamabad and when no reply was received, telegraphic reminders were also issued by the Karachi Telecommunication Region.
Finally, a reply was received and the appellant was informed by the Senior Accounts Officer, Telecommunication Region, Karachi, vide his letter dated 29-7-1985 that the Director-General, T & T, Islamabad, had decided not to relieve him on the ground that because he had been transferred to Karachi alongwith his post, his lien in the department at Lahore had automatically been terminated and, therefore, he could not be sent back to take up his B-11 post. Having failed departmentally, the appellant approached this Tribunal for relief by way of this appeal.
6. It is the case of the appellant that he had throughout been on the permanent strength of the staff of the Director, T & T Accounts, Lahore, and that his lien had never been terminated. In support, reliance has been placed on the various letters exchanged between Lahore and Karachi Offices during the period the Departmental Promotion Committee was scheduled to meet and even subsequently. It was also submitted that if the appellant was transferred alongwith the post that hardly made any difference. It would not automatically result in termination of the lien in the parent department. On these facts, the learned counsel for the appellant maintained that by the action of the Respondent-Department in not relieving him and permitting him to take up on promotion a higher job, the appellant had been very unfairly treated and deprived of his due rights.
7. The counsel for the Respondent-Department has resisted the appeal on the sole ground that when the appellant had been transferred to Karachi Department alongwith the post, his lien in the parent department stood automatically terminated. He had thus ceased to be on the strength of the Director, T & T Accounts, Lahore staff and, therefore, the appellant was not eligible to be considered for promotion against a post in the Department at Lahore.
8. We have heard both the parties, have considered the contentions raised and have gone through the documentary evidence placed on record. The stand taken by the respondents is that the appellant was transferred to the Telecommunication Region, Karachi, alongwith the post but nothing has been brought on record to prove that it was so. There is no order transferring the post nor the fact of the transfer of post has been mentioned in the order placing the appellant's service at the disposal of the Karachi Region. The only document in which we find a reference to the transfer of eight posts is a letter dated 6-8-1984 addressed to the Director-General, T & T, Islamabad. But there is no supporting evidence to substantiate that the statement made therein is factually correct. In the very next para. of the said letter dated 6-8-1984 request for transfer back of the appellant to the parent department has been made. Therefore, even this letter does not establish that the appellant's lien with the parent department had been terminated. On the other hand, there is substantial and, in fact, unrebutted evidence on record to show that the appellant's lien in his parent department did not stand terminated. Had it been terminated, the appellant's parent department would not have asked for his consent to come back on promotion, would never have considered him for a B-11 post and would surely not have made repeated requests for his being relieved to take up the new post. If he had been struck off the strength of the Director, T & T, Accounts, Lahore, nothing of the kind, referred to above, would have happened. The letter dated 9- 6-1984, reproduced earlier in this order, has reference to the letter from the Director, T & T, Accounts, Lahore, in which he described the appellant as the official "having lien in his office." That the Director owned the appellant and treated him to be continuously on his strength is clearly proved by the correspondence exchanged between Lahore and Karachi offices, a part of which has already been reproduced in the earlier part of this order. Also, it is not the respondents' case that the appellant had been confirmed in the Telecommunication Region and had thus come to have a lien in that department. Therefore, the question of termination of his lien in his parent department did not arise. Under FR-14-A (a) a Government servant's lien on a post, in no circumstances, can be terminated without a lien upon a permanent post. The relevant rule reads as under:-- "Except as provided in clause (c) of this rule and rule 97, a Government servant's lien on a post may in no circumstances be terminated, even with his consent, if the result will be to leave him without a lien or' a suspended lien upon a permanent post."
The onus to prove that the appellant had been transferred alongwith the post or that he had been substantively appointed in the Karachi Region was heavy on the respondents and that onus has not been discharged. In view of that we cannot accept the plea that the appellant's lien in his parent department had been terminated and that he could not be allowed to join a B-11 post.
9. For the reasons given above, we are of the view that the Director-General, T & T, was clearly wrong in not agreeing to allow the Karachi Telecommunication Region to relieve the appellant to enable him to take up the higher post. In fact Karachi Telecommunication Region need not have insisted on a formal transfer order from the Director-General's office and if at all, for technical administrative considerations, it was necessary, it should not have been withheld. We, therefore, accept this appeal and direct that the appellant will be promoted as Accounts Assistant B-11 with effect from the date the Departmental Promotion Committee approved his name for promotion.
We further direct that the appellant should be allowed all consequential back benefits.
10. No order as to costs.
11. Parties to be informed accordingly.
SYED ALLY MADAD SHAH (CHAIRMAN).--The appellant Muhammad Saeed Ahmed Khan joined service as L.D.C. in the office of the Controller, Posts, Telegraph and Telephones, Karachi in 1968. He earned promotion as U.D.C. in 1972. He was transferred on deputation to the Directorate of Budget and Accounts, Pakistan Public Works Department, Karachi in 1976. He was recalled to his parent department in 1981. He was posted in the office of the Senior Accounts Officer, Overseas Telecommunication Region, Karachi, where he joined in 1982. During the intervening period, the office of the Controller of Posts, Telegraph and Telephones, Karachi was reorganised and redesignated as the office of the Accountant General, Posts, Telegraph and Telephones with head office at Lahore. The office of the Accountant General, Posts, Telegraph and Telephones, Lahore was bifurcated into the offices of the Directorate of Post Offices Accounts, Lahore, and the Directorate of T & T Accounts, Lahore in the year 1981. In the Directorate of T & T Accounts, Lahore, field was opened for return of the deputationists and their options were obtained. The appellant opted for his repatriation to the Directorate of T & T Accounts in 1983. He was considered for promotion from B-7 to B-11 in the Directorate of T & T Accounts, Lahore and was approved. His services were requisitioned from the Telecommunication Region, Karachi. However, he was not relieved unless orders were obtained from the Director-General, T & T, Islamabad. The Director-General, T & T, Islamabad did not agree and the appellant was thus deprived of benefits of his promotion to BPS-
11. I agree with the conclusions arrived at by the learned Member that there was no justification for refusing the appellant's repatriation to the Directorate of T & T Accounts, Lahore and the appeal may be allowed. The appellant shall be repatriated to the Directorate of T & T Accounts, Lahore and he shall be entitled to all the benefits of promotion from the date his promotion was approved by the Departmental Promotion Committee. He shall be paid due monetary benefits admissible for the post in BPS-11 until he is relieved by the General Manager, Overseas Telecommunication Region, Karachi and his seniority shall be determined in the Directorate of T & T Accounts, Lahore in accordance with the rules.