POBNEWS24, Dhaka Dec 19, 2024 : The administration has become agitated over the draft proposal of the Public Administration Reform Commission. Especially the influential officials of the administration cadre are furious. They have called on the commission to withdraw from the draft proposal.
In a meeting with journalists at the Secretariat BIT on Tuesday (December 17), Public Administration Reforms Commission chief Abdul Muyid Chowdhury said that it is being recommended that no one will get promotion to the civil service deputy secretary and joint secretary levels without an examination. At the same time, it is being recommended to take 50 percent of the officers from the administration cadre and 50 percent from other cadres for promotion to the deputy secretary position. Currently, in this case, the officers from the administration cadre get 75 percent promotion and the officers from other cadres get 25 percent promotion.
The Public Administration Reforms Commission is also going to recommend to the government to separate health and education from the cadre services like the Judicial Service Commission. At the same time, the commission will also recommend to divide other cadres into five clusters.
After the news of the commission’s draft recommendations was circulated, officials from the administration, health, and education cadres became angry. They protested and demanded a reversal of the decision.
On October 3, the Cabinet Division issued a notification forming an eight-member Public Administration Reform Commission. The head of the commission is Abdul Muyid Chowdhury, chairman of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and former advisor to the caretaker government. The notification stated that the commission has been formed to create a people-oriented, accountable, efficient and impartial public administration system. The commission will submit its report to the chief advisor of the interim government within 90 days (3 months).
Angry administration cadre officials
On Wednesday (December 19), the Bangladesh Administrative Service Association (BASA), an organization of administration cadre officials, protested against the news published in the newspaper of the Public Administration Reform Commission and demanded correction of the report.
It is said that the report was not prepared after collecting information through a survey or survey of the opinions of the administration officials aspiring for the promotion of Deputy Secretary and based on that, sufficient judgment and analysis was not done. As a result, the published news has created strong anger and reactions among the BCS administration cadre officials working at all levels, including the field administration. The Association is calling for the correction of the report along with this statement of the commission chief and protest.
BASA said, “We very logically believe that in the interest of the welfare of the state, 100% of the posts of Deputy Secretary/Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary/Secretary should be filled by officers from the administration cadre for various reasons.”
Protest of DCs
On Wednesday, the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of all the districts of the country protested against the Public Administration Reforms Commission’s draft proposal to reduce the quota for administration cadre officials in promotion to the post of Deputy Secretary.
They submitted a protest letter to the offices of the Cabinet Secretary and the Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration on Wednesday.
The DCs’ protest letter states that the type of recommendation the Reform Commission is considering making regarding promotion to the post of Deputy Secretary is beyond reality. Such an initiative is in no way supportable.
It also mentioned that “such a sudden announcement, before the Public Administration Reforms Commission’s formal written report on a matter settled by the country’s highest court has been submitted to the government, is unwelcome, offensive and amounts to weakening the state system.”
The protest letter also states that the scope of work of the administrative cadre in the state is closely related to policy-making. The major difference between the administrative cadre and other cadres is that the work style of the administrative cadre covers the overall issue. Whereas the work style of other cadres is specialized.
Education cadre officials reject draft recommendations
On the other hand, the BCS General Education Association has submitted a protest letter rejecting the draft recommendation to exclude BCS General Education from the cadre.
It says that the Public Administration Reforms Commission is going to recommend keeping the BCS General Education Cadre and BCS Health Cadre outside the framework. The BCS General Education Association, the sole spokesperson for the 16,000 members of the BCS General Education Cadre, categorically rejects this recommendation. We had resisted a similar attempt in 2012. The matter has been resolved.
“Such recommendations of the commission, which was formed to eliminate all discrimination and create a dynamic, people-friendly public administration through reforms, are in conflict with the anti-discrimination spirit of the current interim government. Therefore, effective administrative reforms will fail if this recommendation is not withdrawn. It is not prudent for the commission to make such proposals and unilaterally publicize them in the media without any discussion with the elected representatives of the BCS general education cadre.”
The BCS General Education Association said that it should be investigated whether this is a conspiracy to destabilize the government by creating instability in the education sector. If such a decision results in stagnation in education programs, education administration and reform programs, the BCS General Education Association will not take any responsibility. We strongly protest against this attempt to reduce cadres and de-intellectualize education. They strongly urged that this attempt be stopped immediately.
Health cadre officials are also angry.
The Health Cadre Association has rejected the Public Administration Reform Commission’s proposal, calling it unilateral.
This organization has 35,000 members. The announcement signed by the organization’s convener Mohammad Neyamat Hossain and member secretary Umme Tania Nasrin on Wednesday said that by appointing completely inexperienced officials to health policy-making positions, the Health Ministry has established a bureaucratic health system instead of making the health sector science-based and up-to-date. However, it is possible to establish a science-based health system by appointing suitable officials from the health cadre to these positions. The stubborn recommendation made by the commission to exclude health from the cadre without real reforms is contrary to the principles of creating merit-based public administration and the interim government. If this happens, administrative reform will fail.
