KARACHI, Dec 9: The Federal Service Tribunal stayed on Thursday the transfer of a senior manager (accounts) from the National Refinery Limited to a newly established organization.

M. Aftab Ahmed contended through Advocate M. Nawaz Shaikh that he was a civil servant whose services had been transferred to an unregistered public trust, namely, Perac Research and Development Foundation.

The appellant alleged that the transfer was punitive because he, as a qualified and experienced chartered accountant, had detected and pointed out huge losses to the public exchequer, following which the National Accountability Bureau initiated an inquiry into the NRL affairs.

An FST bench, comprising Kazi Mohammed Hussain and Rashid Ali Mirza, sought the NRL comments by Jan 21 when the appeal would come up for regular hearing and suspended the impugned transfer order till that date.