Public Service Act: Legal notice served on govt to scrap Section 42

A rights organisation today served a legal notice on the government requesting it to scrap in seven days the Section of the Public Service Act which provides that a civil servant will not be dismissed from the job unless he or she is sentenced to at least one-year imprisonment for any criminal offence.

The Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) sent the legal notice to seven secretaries of the government saying that appropriate legal action will be taken if they do not cancel Section 42 of the Public Service Act, 2018 in seven days.

The organisation also said in the legal notice that a gazette notification on the Public Service Act, 2018 was issued on November 14, 2018 incorporating the Section 42.

According to the Contempt of Court Act, 1926, which is now in force, a public servant is dismissed from the service if he or she is sentenced to six months’ imprisonment which is the maximum punishment under this law.

The government has formulated the Public Service Act, 2018 incorporating Section 42 in order to damage the spirit of the contempt of court law, as the public servants will have no fear of losing their job under this law.

Advocate Manzill Murshid, who sent the legal notice on behalf of the HRPB, told The Daily Star that the Act has been formulated incorporating the Section 42 in order to give protection to the civil servants from contempt of court charges which is illegal and unconstitutional.

Manzill Murshid said he will move a writ petition before the High Court for necessary action if the authorities concerned of the government do not respond to the legal notice and do not scrap the Section 42 in seven days.

The legal notice has been sent to the secretaries to the offices of the president and prime minister, cabinet and public administration ministries, two divisions of law ministry and Jatiya Sangsad Secretariat.