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Admin put thru' promotion glut

No posts vacant yet 649 elevated to top 3 notches

Staff Correspondent
In the biggest promotion spree in the civil administration, the government yesterday promoted 649 officers to the ranks of additional secretary, joint secretary and deputy secretary against no vacant posts.
Of the promoted civil servants, 127 joint secretaries have been elevated to the rank of additional secretary, 264 deputy secretaries to the post of joint secretary and 258 senior assistant secretaries to the post of deputy secretary.
Most of them are from the 82 and 85 batches of the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) who were earlier left out of promotion.
With the large-scale promotion, the civil administration now turns severely top-heavy as the number of officers already holding the three ranks are nearly double. Now there are about 1,500 deputy secretaries against 830 approved posts, 500joint secretaries against 250 posts and 148 additional secretaries against 108 approved posts. A large number of officers expecting promotion rushed to the Ministry of Public Administration soon after the promotion orders were put on display. Many were seen embracing each other seeing their names on the lists.
Former cabinet secretary Akbar Ali Khan in his reaction said the government move would increase its expenditure.
Moreover, the administration will lose its dynamism due to the possible delay in making decisions by the additional number of officers in the same positions.
About the left out officers, he said the government should notify them why they were not given promotion. "They should be given the scope of filing appeal in this regard,” Akbar, also a former adviser to a caretaker government, toldThe Daily Star.
A deputy secretary said, "My promotion was due for long five years. It was a great relief for me when I saw my name on the list."
There were still some officers whose names did not appear on the lists. "I am deprived of promotion although my name was on top of the merit list. Some officers of my batch got promotion whose names were much belowinthemeritlist," regretted one such officer.
The promoted officers will continue serving in their current positions as "in situ" (meaning their designation will be elevated, not portfolio) due to no vacancy.
However, the public administration ministry yesterday issued separate gazette notifications regarding the promotion saying that all the promoted officers were made officer-on-special duty (OSD).
Insiders said the ministry last night was working on an order which would inform that they would remain in their current positions despite the promotion.
As per normal practices, a civil servant gets new office and new posting when his or her rankis elevated.
The situation this time became more difficult as no civil servant will retire in the next two years, thanks to an extension of the retirement age to 59 years from 57. Nearly 4,000 officers retire every year, creating scope for promotion and posting of their subordinates.
Earlier, the Superior Selection Board (SSB), a body of seven secretaries with the cabinet secretary at the head, held a series of meetings in the last one month to find a mech -anism for promoting the officers and giving them new postings.
Public Administration Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder claimed the promotion was given based on performance and merit of the officers. "Nobody was given promotion on political consideration," he told reporters at his office.
But many officers in the secretariat say political and personal favouritism, not performance or merit, has been the primary consideration for promotion and posting. The civil administration is run by some senior bureaucrats closely associated with influential figures of ruling parties, they allege.