Promotion for prestige

The latest round of promotion in the civil administration will hardly bring any dynamism in bureaucracy as most of the promoted officials will do the same work but with additional perks, according to top admin officials.

For the newly promoted 85 additional secretaries, the government will have to spend an additional over Tk 17 lakh a month from July. They were promoted from the post of joint secretary on Thursday.

The government will have to deal with the frustration of several hundred officials who were not considered for promotion, sources in secretariat said.

Former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder said promotions without additional responsibilities are meaningless.

“It can't be the goal of the public administration ministry. Promotions from the deputy secretary rank should be given following a strict process of evaluation,” he told The Daily Star.

He questioned why the government would have to spend additional money if the promoted officers remained in situ. Such a decision contradicts with the government's own policy, he pointed out.

He feared that as the top tier of the civil administration has become quite heavy for a long time now, it might cause a disaster for the government anytime.

A newly promoted official of the road transport ministry said, “This is an honour for us. We'll get additional salaries and allowances, but we'll have to do the same work as all the posts of additional secretaries are already occupied.”

The official used to draw a monthly salary of Tk 82,000, including the fuel cost for his car, as a joint secretary. He would now earn over Tk 1.02 lakh, including the house rent. The house rent of officials residing in government quarters is deducted from their salaries.   

About 200 deputy secretaries and senior assistant secretaries are likely to be upgraded to the ranks of joint secretary and deputy secretary in a day or two. That means the government would have to spend an additional Tk 20 lakh a month for them, according to a senior secretary.

A joint secretary would get over Tk 84,000 a month as salaries and allowances, up from over Tk 75,000 as a deputy secretary.

Besides, there are around 800 deputy secretaries and senior assistant secretaries who have been trying to get promotions. 

After the latest promotions, the government now has 452 additional secretaries against some 120 posts, 882 joint secretaries against 350 posts and 1,298 deputy secretaries against 830 posts.

Seeking anonymity, a joint secretary of the agriculture ministry told this correspondent that promoting officials on in situ basis would continue until the end of 2018 when most of the recently promoted additional and joint secretaries will retire from service.

“It's true that the government will have to spend additional money now. Had our promotions been given in due time, we would have earned much more money and honour. We became victim of a promotion system where politics, lobbying and influence dominated over merit and performance,” claimed another joint secretary.   

Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam on Thursday told this newspaper that although the promoted officials will get higher salaries and perks, most of them will remain in situ, meaning they will discharge their previous duties at the same offices.

MORE PROMOTIONS PLANNED

Sources in the agriculture ministry said the government has made another move to promote the officials of the 21st and 22nd batches of the Bangladesh Civil Service within three to four months.

The annual confidential and intelligence reports and reports on discipline of the officials have already been sought by the public administration ministry to evaluate their merit and performance.

Sources added that the authorities concerned have recommended names of 437 admin cadre officials for promotion. The list will include 25 percent more names from 27 other cadre services.