Promotions of retired bureaucrats draw questions, criticism

The retrospective promotion to 764 retired bureaucrats in the public administration drew questions with some criticising the government openly, and anger also mounted among incumbent officials.

Several also questioned whether it is right to depict the officials who went on retirement on the second highest rank in civil service (additional secretary) as the deprived officials. They said not all of the officials would make it to the rank of secretary. Besides, allegations also surfaced on the promotion of many officials from a single batch, as well as giving promotions by violating seniority. Questions also arose as to why the government prioritised the hasty promotions to retired officials despite the prevailing economic crisis.

The public administration ministry issued separate gazette notifications on Sunday giving retrospective promotions to 764 retired officials with the ranks of deputy secretary, joint secretary, additional secretary, grade 1 officer and secretary, who went on retirement during the 16 years of the Awami League government which was ousted by the July mass uprising. These officers will get all financial benefits as per the rules from the date of retrospective promotions as per the rules.

The Chief Adviser’s Press Wing said on 24 December last year that the government would need to spend Tk 420 million to pay due salary and allowances for the retrospective promotion to deprived officials, and an additional 40 million annually for pension.

Former additional secretary Mahbub Kabir Milon took to social media on the matter. He wrote on Facebook, “We were first told by the scrutiny committee recommended for the promotion that no officials with the rank of the additional secretary would be recommended to become secretary because the additional secretary is the highest promoted post in the civil service. We the additional secretaries had accepted it, but what has been seen is that 51 out of 119 additional secretaries were made secretary, and 45 of those promoted belong to a single batch and many of them were even the victim of no deprivation."

When asked, Mahbub Kabir Milon told Prothom Alo, “It cannot be acceptable to promote the highest number of officials to the rank of secretary from a single batch. Such many officials cannot be deprived of a single batch. The government should not give them such many facilities.”

The Awami League government was ousted by the July mass uprising on 5 August, followed by the formation of the interim government on 8 August. As the government took office, many officials from the administration cadre claiming themselves as deprived ones demonstrated for promotion. Officials were promoted afterwards. Besides, many retired officials were brought back and appointed to various important positions, as well as initiatives were taken to provide promotion and service benefits to the retired officials claiming to be the ‘deprived’ ones.

The government formed the a committee to address deprivation on 16 September 2024, chaired by former Finance Secretary and former Alternate Executive Director at the World Bank for Bangladesh, Zakir Ahmed Khan. The committee was tasked with reviewing applications from government officials who had faced various forms of career-related deprivation during their service and went on retirement between 2009 and August 4, 2024. A representative each from the Cabinet Division, the Ministry of Public Administration, the Finance Division, and the Law and Justice Division were also included in the committee, and all of them were from the administration cadre.

The committee reviewed about 4,500 applications and recommended promoting and providing service benefits to 1,540 ‘deprived’ officials, and the government issued a gazette on Sunday giving retrospective promotion to 764 retired officials.

These officials will neither need to return to their jobs nor join the office for a day. They will only enjoy service benefits. As per gazettes, they will get 50 per cent of their outstanding dues in the current fiscal (2024-25) year or by 30 June while the remaining 50 per cent in the next fiscal year.

Government employees become eligible for a pension based on 90 per cent of the basic salary once their service tenures cross 25 years. Half of it is paid one time and the remaining amount is paid monthly. Besides, they also receive various benefits including gratuity and provident funds.

The basic salary ranges between Tk 66,000 and Tk 76,490 for the additional secretary (grade 2) and Tk 78,000 for the secretary.

Of the 764 given promotions on Tuesday, 119 have been made secretaries. An analysis of those who were made secretaries reveals that 35 admin cadre officials were from the “regular batch of 1982”. Apart from them, another 10 officials of the “special batch of 1982” also were promoted as secretaries. This means a total of 45 officials of the 1982 batch were made secretaries.

A number of officials of this batch were made secretaries during the previous government. Incumbent 11 secretaries, including the principal secretary of the chief advisor, cabinet division, road transport ministry and home ministry, are from the 1982 batch.

Of the secretaries made during the Awami League government from the 1982 batch are Abul Kalam Azad, Nojibur Rahman, Hedayetullah Al Mamun, Khandaker Anwarul Islam and other officials considered as close to the AL government.

There is a discussion in the public administration that the bureaucrats who are in the leading positions now have played a significant role in helping their batchmates get the promotions.

An analysis of the list of the officials who were promoted as secretaries showed that 50 of them went on retirement as additional secretaries.

Besides, nine have been made secretaries who went on retirement as senior assistant secretaries, that means, they were awarded four promotions at one go.

These fortunate officials are - Sirajul Islam Khan, AJM Salauddin Nagori, Akhtaruzzaman Talukder, Abi Abdullah, AKM Ihsanul Haque, Faridul Islam, Nazmul Amin Majumder, Mahfuzul Islam and Zahidul Islam.

Zafar Siddique stood 3rd in the merit list of the 5th batch of BCS admin cadre of 1984. He went on retirement as a joint secretary in 2017. Though the government promoted in retrospect 11 officials who were behind him in the merit list, he was not chosen.

Zafar Siddique told Prothom Alo that though the incumbent is vocal against discrimination, it has made a discrimination here.

Public administration secretary Mokhlesur Rahman is one of the officials who have been promoted as a secretary on Tuesday. This 1982 batch official was made deputy secretary in 2001, joint secretary in 2004, additional secretary in 2006. He went on retirement in 2015.

Mokhlesur Rahman got promotion in retrospect as a deprived official. Currently he has been serving as a senior secretary in the public administration ministry.

Former rector of Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (PATC) AKM Abdul Awal told Prothom Alo that some have been appointed on contract as senior secretaries. At the same time, that person has been given promotion as a secretary in retrospect in a regular post. This cannot be acceptable. This is because many were not awarded the promotion.

He pointed out that the person serving as senior secretary could have taken financial benefits through promotion in retrospect if everyone was given promotion.

According to him, some have got too much while others got nothing.

Asked whether those who went on retirement as additional secretary could be considered as deprived, Abdul Awal Majumder stated it could be said so if they were not made secretaries despite having all the qualifications.

He remarked that there were mistakes when this government hastily awarded promotions immediately after assuming power. Mistakes have been made once again in sorting this time.

This promotion in retrospect has made the current officials aggrieved. Wishing not to be named, an official of the 30th batch of public administration said to Prothom Alo a promotion is due for them for more than two and a half years but the government is not awarding that.

The government would not be under any economic pressure per se if they are given the promotion, the official expressed.

Currently, the government is passing  through a critical phase in terms of income and expenditure. The deficit in the income of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has increased. As a result, expenditure in projects has been slashed in some cases. On the other hand, the government has recently increased the value added tax (VAT). The government has also backtracked from the decision of giving dearness allowance to the government officials.

Speaking about the overall situation, Zahid Hussain, former lead economist at the Dhaka office of World Bank told Prothom Alo that giving promotions and financial benefits to retired officials should have been a less prioritised issue for this government. This could have been done when the economic pressure was minimal. Even this could have been like awarding the status now and the financial benefits a few years later.

Zahid Hussain stated that it seems that the government has done this coming under the pressure of the bureaucracy or to have their cooperation. This is like a surrender, he added

* This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna and Shameem Reza