Promotions to further bloat top civil admin
Deepak Acharjee
The government is going to promote around 200 officials of the 22nd batch of the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) administration cadre to the post of deputy secretary (DS) soon, sources in the public administration ministry said.
The sources said the ministry will also promote around 70 to 80 other officials, who were deprived of promotions in November 2016, to the posts of DS, joint secretary and additional secretary. This would avert criticism for promoting officials of only one batch in the civil administration, they added.
In a recent meeting, members of the Superior Selection Board (SSB) recommended the promotion of at least 250 out of the 265 officials of the 22nd batch of the BCS administration to the post of DS.
A public administrationministry official yesterday said they have sent a proposal in this regard to the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) for approval. We will issue a notification for promoting the officials to the higher posts after getting the PMs approval, he added.
The public administration ministrys decision, however, has raised questions at a time when there are surplus officials in the DS, JS and AS posts due to undue promotions.
On November 27, 2016, the authorities concerned had promoted 569 officials to the posts of DS, JS and AS, leading to a top-heavy administration.
The sources said officials of the 22nd batch of BCS administration have been pursuing the authorities concerned for promotions since November last year.
At the same time, officials of the 11th batch of BCS administration, who are working as DS, were also pursuing their higher ups in the administration that they should be listed for promotion together.
But the authorities concerned ignored the demand of the 11th batch of the BCS administration, the sources added. According to the sources, there are an excess of around 1,600 officials in the ranks of AS, JS and DS in the civil administration around.
A total of 76 secretaries and acting secretaries are now working against 75 duty posts, while 492 additional secretaries are working against 110 posts, they said. A total of 827 joint secretaries are working in different ministries and divisions against 341 sanctioned posts, while 1,284 deputy secretaries are working against 828 sanctioned posts.
