The public administration reform commission is likely to recommend converting four old divisions of the country to four different provinces, as well as handing over the management affairs of all related matters except for important issues like state security to these provinces.
Constitution, police, Anti-corruption Commission reform commissions submitted their reports to Chief Adviser professor Muhammad Yunus on 15 January. Though the public administration reform commission did not file its report its chief and members were present, and they also present a list of possible recommendations including the issues of four provinces, sources said.
A reliable source said on condition of anonymity one of the major recommendations of the public administration reform commission is to establish four provinces as part of the decentralisation. The four provinces are Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi and Khulna. However, the details of operational structures and the nature of work of these provinces are still unknown.
A source at the commission said talks are underway on the matter and the commission has not finalised their recommendations yet. This is a constitution-related matter. So, they cannot talk about the structures now.
Talks on establishing several provinces in Bangladesh are nothing new. Adviser M Sakhawat Hossain proposed dividing the country up into at least five provinces in an article “Now is the time for state repairs” published in Prothom Alo on the occasion of the 100 of the interim.
He also gave an idea of the nature of the work of the five provinces. He emphasised decentralisation saying that population-wise, Bangladesh is the eighth largest country in the world with a population of around 175 million. The country may be small in area, but with such a huge population if the government wants to reach the people, it can divide the country up into at least five provinces and create a federal structure.
There can be two provinces each, on the east and the west, and greater Dhaka will be another province. Metropolitan Dhaka will be ruled by the centre.
The centre will have control of matters like defence, foreign affairs, border and maritime security, communications and foreign assistance and cooperation. While the other sectors will also be supervised by the centre, the provinces will be in the management of these.
Local governance specialist Tofael Ahamed, however, opined it is not the right way to establish provinces in Bangladesh for various reasons, and he also wrote an article in Prothom Alo in reaction to Sakhawat Hossain.
When asked, Tofael Ahamed, who currently leads the local government reform commission, told Prohom Alo on 17 January, “What I have tried to say in my article is and what I still think is that this country is geographically very small. Perhaps, the population is huge. But there is no big diversity in various issues like language and geographical location. I think if the existing departments and local government are strengthened, as well as if the power to do good tasks is given, then it would not be necessary to engage in the trouble of establishing provinces, which creates several new problems instead of solving those.”
There are currently eight administrative divisions. These are Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barishal, Sylhet, Rangpur and Mymensingh. Besides, talks have made rounds over creating Cumilla and Faridpur divisions. Previously, the public administration reform commission also included the creation of Cumilla and Faridpur divisions in their tentative recommendations
The recommendations submitted by the constitution reform commission on 15 January also emphasised the autonomy of the local government institutions, as well as the decentralisation of the Supreme Court by establishing permanent High Court benches in all divisional centres.
Discussion on quota in deputy secretary post
Last October, the Cabinet Division issued a notification for six reform commissions, including the Public Administration Reform Commission. The head of the Public Administration Reform Commission is former caretaker government adviser and former secretary Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury. The commission was supposed to submit its report by 31 December, but the time was extended by a month.
Earlier, in a meeting to exchange views with journalists at the Ministry of Public Administration last December, the head of the commission, Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, and Member Secretary and Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration Md. Mokhles Ur Rahman, had informed about some possible recommendations.
According to the statement that day, the possible recommendations included 50 per cent reservation for administration cadre officials and 50 per cent for other cadres in the promotion to the post of deputy secretary, and keeping education and health in a separate commission without including them in the cadre.
However, this caused a huge reaction among officials of different cadres. There has been strong objection among officials of the administration cadre to this possible recommendation for promotion to the post of deputy secretary.
They say they will not accept this recommendation. In this regard, they have also reminded the authorities of a ruling of the Appellate Division on this matter.
On the other hand, officials of these two cadres are also objecting to the recommendation that education and health should not be included in the cadre and should be placed in a separate commission. In such a situation, there is uncertainty about whether these recommendations will be included in the final stage or not.
A source in the commission said that they are still discussing this. They are discussing the advantages and disadvantages of having a quota or not. They will discuss this issue. When asked, commission chief Muyeed Chowdhury did not want to say anything about this.
The commission’s possible recommendations also include lifting the police verification system (verifying identity, address and political affiliation and so on) in various fields including recruitment, keeping an officer in each district under the Right to Information Act and so on.