Contractual recruitment irks admin officials

Indiscriminate contractual appointments depriving promotions of regular officials are creating grievances in the administration.

Officials said as much as 142 top government officials were appointed on contractual basis in several ministries, departments and embassies.

There are 12 retired secretaries among the 142. Despite having regular employees, the government spends an extra Tk 22.5 million or so every year to pay for the salary and other facilities of these 12 secretaries.

According to the public administration ministry, a number of retired officials are trying to be recruited on contractual basis using nepotism and intimacy with the ruling party.

The government has no policy about contractual appointment of officials. Finance minister AMA Muhith once sent a letter to the public administration ministry for a policy to be formulated over contractual recruitment. However, that is yet to be done.

An additional secretary told Prothom Alo that every official aspires to reach to the top post of the administration, but not all of them can become secretaries.

Dhaka University's professor of the public administration department, Salahuddin M Aminuzzaman, told Prothom Alo on Monday that the government can recruit an official on contract, but only once. If this continues, it can frustrate other officials and their work spirit, he added.

Of the 142 officials on contract, 131 are Grade-I to Grade-V public servants. The remaining 11 are second class officials. The two departments of the law ministry are being run by contractual secretaries. Of them, Shahidul Haque, senior secretary of the legislative and parliamentary affairs division of the law ministry has already renewed his contract thrice and has been a secretary on contract for five years.

On 6 August, the government recruited the law ministry's law and justice division secretary Abu Saleh Sheikh Mohammed Zahirul Haque for two years after his retirement.

On 7 November, the public administration ministry in an order appointed energy and mineral resources secretary Nazimuddin Chowdhury to his previous post for six months.

Principal secretary to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury was recruited to the post on contract last year. His contract will end on 31 December. But, rumours say he may be recruited again in the same post for another year.

Also other officials of the secretary rank, including executive director to the World Bank Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, alternative executive director to the Asian Development Bank Mahbub Ahmed, and Bangladesh ambassador to Italy Abdus Sobhan Sikder, have been serving on contract.

When asked about contractual recruits, senior secretary of public administration Mohammed Mozammel Haque Khan told Prothom Alo that the government has to recruit certain officials on contract due to unavoidable reasons. But, he said, he discouraged such recruitment.

*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Imam Hossain.