Admin, education cadres push back on reform recommendations

The officers under the Bangladesh Civil Service’s (BCS) administration cadre have strongly opposed the recommendations made by the public administration reform commission.

They particularly declared not to accept the proposal for allocating 50 per cent of promotions to the deputy secretary positions for administration cadre officers and the remaining 50 per cent for other cadres.

Meanwhile, the education cadre officers objected to the recommendation for excluding education and health cadres from the civil service and placing them under separate commissions.

At a view exchange meeting with the reporters at the secretariat on Tuesday, Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, chief of the reform commission, and Mokhlesur Rahman, its member secretary, disclosed some of their recommendations. They, however, left it for the government to make a final decision regarding the recommendations.

The recommendations include introducing an examination-based promotion system for the posts of deputy secretary and joint secretary, allocating the deputy secretary positions in half between the administration cadres and other cadres, excluding the education and health cadres from the civil service, scrapping the police verification system for government recruitments, and creating two new administrative divisions – Cumilla and Faridpur.

The commission is supposed to submit its final report to the government by 31 December. However, the recommendations triggered immediate objections from administration and education cadre officials.

Following media reports on the recommendations, the alliance of administration cadre officers – Bangladesh Administrative Service Association – convened an emergency meeting at the BIAM auditorium in Dhaka.

On the condition of anonymity, an administration cadre officer told Prothom Alo that the officers strongly opposed the 50-50 promotion quota recommendation and vowed not to accept it. Instead, they suggested preserving at least 75 per cent deputy secretary positions for the administrative cadres and the remaining 25 per cent for the others, in line with the court’s directive.

They believe that the promotion opportunities will be limited for the administrative cadres had the recommendations been executed. Mahbubur Rahman, secretary general of the association and a member of the planning commission, said they will officially disclose their positions through a press release.

Now, around 75 per cent deputy secretary positions are allocated to the administrative service officers, while the remaining 25 per cent for the other cadres. The promotions are managed by the superior selection board (SSB), with the public administration ministry inviting applications from other cadres for the 25 per cent deputy secretary positions.

According to the public administration ministry sources, there are 1,599 deputy secretaries serving in public administration. The inter-cadre discrimination elimination council has long been demanding open and examination-based promotions to the deputy secretary positions, abolishing the quota system.

The recommendation to separate education and health cadres – two largest cadre services in terms of personnel – from the BCS structure has also stirred sharp criticism.

The commission recommended separate specialised commissions for education and health services, similar to the existing judicial service commission, with the possibility of increasing salaries for them.

Since the announcement of the recommendations, the education cadre officers took to different social media platforms to express their disapproval.

An official wrote on Facebook, "I had hoped for an end to inter-cadre discrimination. Now, I see that the education cadre itself has been recommended to be eliminated.” A former leader of the BCS education cadre association demanded appointments at ministries from relevant cadre services.

The BCS education cadre association also rejected the recommendations formally through a statement on Wednesday.