Public administration has not yet returned to normalcy since the fall of the Awami League government in a mass uprising.
Many officials known as close to the ousted government have not yet resumed their offices at the secretariat.
A secretary has been sent on compulsory retirement while the contractual appointment of 11 other secretaries has been cancelled.
On the other hand, the officials, who were deprived of promotions during the previous government, have been staging protests.
The interim government has started giving promotions to deal with the situation.
The analysis also revealed that there are allegations of corruption and misconduct against 50 of the 117 senior assistant secretaries who were promoted to deputy secretaries on 13 August.
A total of 340 officials from senior assistant secretary to joint secretary have been promoted in the last two weeks after the interim government took office on 8 August.
Some kind of unrest is going on in the field level administration as well. The deputy commissioners (DCs) who are known to be close to the previous Awami League government are panicked. This has led to a stagnation in the works of the field administration.
Jhenaidah deputy commissioner SM Rafiqul Islam has left the workplace with a three-day leave in the face of an agitation of various student organisations.
The student leaders lay siege to the office of the DC bringing out allegations of his corruption, politicisation, bribery, and sharing confidential information with the people who are against the interim government that has been formed after the fall of Sheikh Hasina government. Later, the DC was compelled to take leave.
The efficiency and discipline of the administration has been compromised with this practice of posting ‘own people’. A scope has appeared to come out of this practice. Hopefully, the interim government would bring back discipline in the administrationSalahuddin M Aminuzzaman, former professor at Dhaka University
The public administration ministry has said that all DCs trusted by the previous government will be withdrawn soon. The process of appointing new DCs in their place has already started.
Speaking about the current situation at the secretariat and the field level administration, two former senior bureaucrats said that the way the previous Awami League government politicised the public administration has never been seen before. As a result of this irregularity, a kind of chaotic situation is prevailing at all levels of administration with the fall of the Awami League government.
After the formation of the interim government on 8 August, a total of 340 officials from senior assistant secretary to joint secretary post have been promoted in the last two weeks.
An analysis of the public administration ministry notifications regarding the promotions show that those who have been deprived for a long time have been promoted, as well as those who faced corruption allegations and have been accused in departmental cases have also been promoted. There have been grievances about this as well.
At least 45 senior assistant secretaries were promoted first to deputy secretaries and then to joint secretaries within a week of the interim government. To justify the promotions twice in just one week, it is being said that the officials were deprived for a long time. Many of their batchmates have become secretaries a few years back.
The analysis also revealed that there are allegations of corruption and misconduct against 50 of the 117 senior assistant secretaries who were promoted to deputy secretaries on 13 August.
Wishing anonymity, several deputy secretaries told Prothom Alo that promotions were being taken, putting the authorities under pressure. No rule is being followed. The promotion-deprived officials sit in the rooms of other officers (who are not coming to office now). This is hampering the discipline in public administration.
Speaking about the promotions of 45 officials twice in just a week, former cabinet secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told Prothom Alo that this is an unusual time. Promotions should also be seen from that point of view. "We cannot predict the impact of this now."
The Awami League government fell on 5 August in the face of the student-led movement.
On that day, Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of prime minister and left the country. After that there was virtually no government in the country from 6 to 8 August.
Before the interim government was sworn in, 22 senior assistant secretaries from various departments were transferred to the public administration ministry on 6 August. They were not promoted during the previous government and were posted in various less important offices outside the secretariat.
Speaking about the transfer of the officials before the formation of the interim government, public administration secretary Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury told Prothom Alo, “The president has transferred them through an executive order.”
Several sources in the secretariat said that families of some of those officials are involved with the politics of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), some were associated with Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student organisation of BNP, while some are from Bogura, the home district of BNP's founder.
Former professor at the public administration department at Dhaka University Salahuddin M Aminuzzaman said a large-scale politicisation took place at all levels of the administration in the last 15 years, with many meritorious and competent officials deprived.
It would be better to give promotions and posting on the basis of merit, not sycophancy and political ideologies, he asserted.
“The efficiency and discipline of the administration has been compromised with this practice of posting ‘own people’. A scope has appeared to come out of this practice. Hopefully, the interim government would bring back discipline in the administration,” Salahuddin M Aminuzzaman added.
*The report, originally published in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo, has rewritten in English by Shameem Reza