Election bonanza for bureaucracy

The government has also promoted seven additional deputy inspectors general of police to DIG and gave them new posting. The Superior Selection Board in its last meeting in the tenure of this government held on October 18, has finalized their recommendation for another round of promotion of 14 additional secretaries to be full-fledged secretaries before the caretaker government takes over power. Moreover 211 assistant secretaries are going to be promoted soon to fill up the positions vacated by the promoted officers.

Earlier, the government on July 3 promoted 153 deputy secretaries to joint secretary, superseding seniors and depriving around 100 eligible officers. Similarly, five additional secretaries were promoted to be full-fledged secretaries. The selection of officers for promotion superseding the seniors is sparking agitation in administration. A large number of aspirants complain that an influential quarter hand-picked the officers, considering their loyalty to the BNP and its major coalition partner Jamaat-e-Islami.

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The government also promoted 378 senior assistant secretaries to the post of deputy secretary on January 26, ignoring about 200 officers having requisite qualification for promotion. After the promotion of 378 senior assistant secretaries, the number of deputy secretaries to become OSD raised to 463, as there were no deputy secretary level vacant posts. Now, with another mass promotion of 332 senior assistant secretaries on October 15, more than 600 deputy secretaries have become OSDs.

The number of contractual appointments has also increased and most of such appointments and extension of contracts are made on the basis of their political allegiance. It has been alleged that most of the secretaries and additional secretaries getting contractual appointment or extension of contracts are inclined either to BNP or Jamaat-e-Islami. Such appointments are greatly hampering smooth functioning of the administration.

The BNP-led coalition government at the very fag end of its tenure has gone for mass promotion of civil servants entirely on political considerations, apparently for taking them on its side during the election. According to a source in the establishment ministry, a total number of 2,380 officials were promoted in the different tiers of bureaucracy during the tenure of this government and the mass promotion of 332 SASs was the 7th phase of its kind to distribute election bonanza.

The mass promotions in the civil service have resulted in the record number of officers getting OSD status having no works for years together. Where there are 865 deputy secretary level posts, the number of deputy secretaries has exceeded 1,600 with the last promotion of 332 senior assistant secretaries to the posts of deputy secretaries on October 15. Most of these officers will be kept in situ while others will remain OSDs.

The other dimension of such mass promotion is that a large number of officers have got promotion on political consideration while many of them having requisite qualification were deprived. It is quite a pity that, a good numbers of SASs who were involved in the ACR tempering were also promoted. This has been breeding frustration and resentment among an increasing number of officers to have its chain reactions. Country's bureaucracy is likely to come under keen public scrutiny due to such promotions.

Bangladesh inherited this bureaucratic system introduced by the British ruler. The civil service in this sub-continent under the British regime was regulated as per the terms and conditions laid down in the India Act, 1935, which contained fair and beneficial provisions aiming to protect the interest of civil servants for performing their duties neutrally. But the civil servants in Bangladesh, unlike the civil servants in the neighbouring countries like India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka failed to maintain the political neutrality.

The political neutrality of the civil servants in Bangladesh is also reinforced by rules restricting their political activities. Section 30 of the Government Servants Conduct Rules of 1979 states: "No government servant shall bring, or attempt to bring political or other outside influence, directly or indirectly, to bear on the government or any government servant in support of any claim arising in connection with his employment."

Section 32 of the said rules holds: "Contravention of any of these rules shall be construed as misconduct within the meaning of the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1985 and a government servant found guilty of such contravention shall render himself liable to disciplinary action under the aforesaid rules."

But Sections 30 and 32 of the Government Servants Conduct Rules are honoured more in breach than in observance. Not a single instance, however, can be cited in which a civil servant was awarded punishment for breach of conduct in his involvement in political activities. Many of the high government officers are now found to be engaged in extra-official activities that are quite political in nature and neutrality of civil service is spoiled in these ways.

Bangladesh does not have as yet any civil service act or any other law regulating the civil service. The Government Servants Conduct Rules of 1979, the Government Servants (Special Provisions) Ordinance 1979, the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules 1985, and the Public Servants Dismissed on Conviction Ordinance 1985 contain the important rules regulating the civil service. But these rules and ordinances do not provide protection to the civil servants from being repressed or victimized by the political party in power.

Political neutrality in the bureaucracy is indispensable for its smooth functioning as it is the most stable and vital component to good governance. Clearly these mass promotions are carried out with the motive of reaping political gain in the forthcoming election. Such mass promotions must be ceased forthwith to put the bureaucracy on the right track.

The frequent mass promotion on political consideration has a demoralizing effect across the tiers of bureaucracy. The system of bureaucracy is bound to be spoiled if partisan loyalty rather than merit becomes the criteria for promotion. The civil servants of all descriptions are the servants of the republic and not of the party in power. They are not expected to be loyal to the party in power but required to serve the government of different political ideology without being partisan to anyone. If the process of politicization of bureaucracy continues unabated, its fall-out will be felt for years to come.

ANM Nurul Haque is a columnist of The Daily Star.