Promotions to all levels in admin under way

Many officials are now found busy trying to get ‘blessings of policymakers’ in civil bureaucracy as the government has initiated a fresh move to give promotions to all levels from the rank of deputy secretary to secretary, according to officials. Aspirants nowadays crowd at the offices of cabinet secretary and public administration secretary, among others, to remind them of their situations and also keep contacts with senior officials at the Prime Minister’s Office apparently to get their favour in the scrutiny process, the officials said. ‘Promotions to different levels are now under way. We are working to ensure that the eligible officers are not left out of the process,’ senior secretary of the public administration ministry Kamal Abdul Naser Chowhdury told New Age. The government has, meanwhile, begun reviewing the promotion of several hundred senior assistant secretaries to deputy secretary, which has been kept on hold for a year in fear of adverse implications with an intense pressure from within civil bureaucracy for a review of the process. Kamal Abdul Naser said that he was not aware of the list of senior assistant secretaries recommended by the Superior Selection Board earlier for promotion. ‘We will review the process since there are changes in the SSB following reshuffle in the top administration,’ he added. There are already over 1,287 deputy secretaries against 830 approved posts as set out in the formal structure of the administration.

In addition, there are around 896 joint secretaries against 350 posts and 267 additional secretaries against 120 posts, according to official records updated on November 30. The government in its previous term gave promotions to all levels on several occasions much beyond the approved structure in the civil service. Consequently, many officials were either made officers on special duty or kept in-situ as there were no vacant positions for them, the officials said. The secretary, however, could not confirm how many officials were going to be promoted at a time. ‘We are examining everything to prepare lists for SSB’s consideration.’ The public administration ministry recently notified all ministries and departments to inform in writing whether they wanted any changes in the list they earlier submitted for promotion to deputy secretary, a joint secretary said, adding that the officials might be promoted by early January. Many aspirants including field officials known as loyalists to the Awami League-led government have begun lobbying policymakers for promotions and better postings in the wake of the latest move for massive promotions in the administration, several officials said. Although the Superior Selection Board led by the cabinet secretary had recommended about 300 senior assistant secretaries, mostly from the 20th Bangladesh Civil Service, for promotion before the January 5 general elections, the government later stalled the process amidst pressure from within the civil bureaucracy, said officials concerned.

A section of officials, who have been working in the field administrations either as upazila nirbahi officers or additional deputy commissioners, have  allegedly been creating pressure on the government for inclusion of the 21st BCS batch in the list for promotion, the officials said. Several senior officials, said that the government was still not willing to include the 21st BCS batch for promotion to deputy secretary although they had taken the ‘difficulty’ to conduct the January 5 general elections boycotted by all opposition parties. The government would not do anything at the moment that might affect the chain of command in administration, the officials claimed. Led by cabinet secretary Mohammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, the SSB in November 2013 finalised the lists of around 80 joint secretaries and nearly 300 senior assistant secretaries for the promotions ahead of the 10th parliamentary polls. Eighty joint secretaries were promoted to additional secretary a day after the Awami League-led government assumed office on January 12 and the promotion to deputy secretary was stalled. It has been alleged that many efficient officials were earlier deprived of promotions to the higher levels on political considerations.

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