Civil admin turns top-heavy
Rampant promotions may endanger chain of command
in bureaucracy, apprehend experts
DEEPAK ACHARJEE
The countrys civil bureaucracy has turned top heavy with large scale promotions, which experts apprehend will have tremendous negative impact on the administration. With these promotions, the numbers of deputy, joint, and additional secretaries have overshot the number of approved posts in the three top tiers of the bureaucracy. This has caused a burden for the ministries and divisions, as the additional officials are not getting new postings, sources in the public administration ministry have revealed. On Monday, the public administration ministry promoted 133 joint secretaries to the post of additional secretary. The government will also promote another 450 officials to the posts of deputy and joint secretaries within the next 15 days, the sources said.
Such rampant promotions have resulted in over 1,500 additional officials in the top three ranks. On the other hand, those without a post have approached the ministrys joint secretary (appointment, posting and deputation) and senior secretary for one, said the sources. But no new posting has been approved so far, a high official of the ministry said.
Senior secretary of the public administration ministry Dr Md Mozammel Haque Khan told The Independent that the pyramid structure of the civil administration has been creating problems in promotions and postings due to mass recruitment since the early 1980s. We are trying to solve these problems within three years by taking the necessary steps, he said.
He added that the ministry was planning to promote more officials to the posts of deputy and joint secretary within the shortest possible time.
About the rampant promotions in the civil administration, former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder argued that the countrys democracy would become weak due to an unstable bureaucracy, which was one of the main pillars of the system.
It is becoming a burden for the state. Such promotions will endanger the chain of command in the civil bureaucracy, he pointed out.
He said the government should stop promoting officials, apart from those who have been deprived of it. The government should implement the Shamsul Haque Commission report on reforms in the civil service, he added.
Former adviser to the caretaker government Dhiraj Kumar Nath told this correspondent that the government should make reforms in the bureaucracy to build a corruption-free administration, as they have announced an attractive pay scale for government employees.
The government cannot influence the civil administration by promoting politically loyal officials by depriving senior officials, he said. It will be impossible to establish an efficient, neutral, independent, and professional bureaucracy in the
country until the Public Service Act is put in place, he claimed.
Nath said the government should also amend the existing Public Service Conduct Rules, delete the existing clause that allows forced retirement after completion of 25 years of service, and erase the provision from the Anti-corruption Commission Act that states that permission has to be sought from a higher officer if corruption charges are brought against a government official.
A total of 79 senior secretaries, secretaries, and acting secretaries are now working in 79 duty posts and Grade-1 posts, while 560 additional secretaries are working against 111 posts.
A total of 653 joint secretaries are working in different ministries and divisions against only 341 sanctioned posts, while 1,552 deputy secretaries are working against 828 sanctioned posts.
