Public service recruitment: Govt to scrap political vetting

The practice of vetting a candidate's political affiliation through intelligence agencies before recruitment and promotion in public service is set to be scrapped following the recommendation of the Public Administration Reform Commission.

The decision came in a meeting held on Monday at the Chief Adviser's Office and chaired by his Principal Secretary M Siraj Uddin Miah, according to the meeting minutes.

The move comes as part of the efforts to de-politicise the civil administration.

However, the commission's recommendation that "no police verification be carried out before written and viva results are published" was not mentioned in the meeting minutes.

The recommendation of background check for criminal record after a candidate passes the BCS exams was accommodated.

If necessary, the authorities can seek relevant information from the Anti-Corruption Commission before final appointment.

Also at the meeting, the Public Security Division was instructed to move forward with amending the Official Secrets Act-1973.

The commission proposed amending both the Official Secrets Act of 1923 and the Right to Information Act of 2009.

While draft amendments to the Right to Information Act were prepared by the information and broadcasting ministry, there was no update on amending the Official Secrets Act. At Monday's meeting, the public security division was instructed to take prompt action in this regard.

The commission recommendation of bringing the land registration directorate under the land ministry was vetoed by the representative of the law ministry at the meeting. At present, the land registration directorate is under the law ministry.

The law ministry representative said it was not possible to implement the recommendation immediately, according to the meeting minutes.

It was also decided that the cabinet division would form a committee comprising the secretaries of the ministry of public administration, the local government division and the finance division to assess various aspects of implementing the commission's recommendations and submit a report.

The commission recommended appointing officers of the rank of senior assistant secretary as secretaries to the upazila parishads.

It also suggested that upazila nirbahi officers be given the authority over law and order, land management and the operation of mobile courts without placing them under the jurisdiction of the upazila parishads.

No decision has come through on these recommendations yet.

A final decision was not made in last Monday's meeting regarding the recommendation to form an independent and permanent public administration reform commission.

Instead, it formed a committee comprising the secretaries of the cabinet division, the ministry of public administration, finance division and the legislative and parliamentary affairs division to examine the various aspects and submit a report.

The meeting instructed that a policy regarding the formation of managing committees for colleges and secondary schools must be issued by July 25.

The ministries and divisions were also directed to update and improve the interface of their cluster websites within a month.

To ensure regular public hearings in all government offices, all relevant circulars must be revised by July 24.