A method for requesting allocation of a Channel Quality Information Channel (CQICH) by a Mobile Station (MS) in a communication system. The method includes switching, by the MS, from a serving anchor Base Station (BS) to a target anchor BS, detecting an absence of a CQICH allocated from the target anchor BS, and transmitting, from the MS to the target anchor BS, a CQICH allocation request. The CQICH allocation request includes a CQICH allocation request header including a basic Connection IDentifier (CID) of the MS and a Header Check Sequence (HCS) for the CQICH allocation request header.