IHC sets rule for filling FIA posts

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ruled that posts within the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cannot be filled by the Police Services of Pakistan (PSP) officers in breach of the PSP Rules, 1985.

"The PSP Rules very clearly prescribe that twenty-five posts within the relevant cadre will be filled by PSP officers and the number twenty-five cannot be read as a percentage of the total posts," said a three-page written order authored by Justice Babar Sattar.

The order said it would be causing serious

injury to the manner in which the PSP Rules have been written if number twenty-five is read as a percentage of the total posts in the FIA.

It said while filling the posts in the FIA, the federal government is bound by the PSP Rules to the extent that it wishes to post PSP officers against vacant posts in the FIA.

According to the order, the court reviewed whether the PSP can be granted posts within the FIA in addition to the posts prescribed to be filled by the PSP in the PSP Rules.

The court noted that the petitioners' request with regard to convening FIA's Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meeting had already been adjudicated by the IHC through an order dated October 21, 2024.