Court orders release of salaries of seven cybercrime officers | #cybercrime | #infosec

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed the immediate release of salaries withheld from seven officers of the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) posted in Peshawar and sought a report from the federal government regarding their continued contractual employment.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel issued the directions while hearing a writ petition filed by seven officers, including Mudassar Shah and Faisal Tariq, through their counsel Khalid Rehman.

The petitioners submitted that they had been appointed as assistant directors in grade-17 in the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in 2012 and had performed their duties for nearly 14 years, including participating in important operations and arrests of accused persons.

They contended that despite serving the institution for such a long period, they had not been regularised and were still working on a contractual basis. They further submitted that more than 400 officers across the country were serving on contract and, instead of regularising their services, the authorities were bringing officers from other departments on deputation.

The counsel told the court that in 2020, officials of the FIA had assured the Islamabad High Court that the petitioners’ services were permanent in nature and not contractual. However, no practical steps had so far been taken to regularise them.

The petitioners further informed the court that their salaries had been withheld for the last three months, causing serious financial difficulties. They argued that employees of an important law-enforcement institution could not be expected to work effectively while facing continued uncertainty regarding their jobs and salaries.

They maintained that the importance of the cybercrime investigation agency had increased considerably in recent years, yet officers who had served the institution for 14 years were still struggling for regularisation, while comparatively junior officials were allegedly receiving better service benefits.

The petitioners also submitted that the federal government had yet to frame the relevant service rules, which had become a major impediment to their regularisation. They said the Islamabad High Court had directed that the process of regularisation be completed through the Federal Public Service Commission, but no substantial progress had been made so far.

During the hearing, the bench directed the assistant attorney general to ensure the immediate release of the petitioners’ withheld salaries and sought a detailed response from the federal government regarding their service status and regularisation