Even after 10 years have passed since the prime minister gave the necessary directives, the jobs of around 4,300 casual officers and employees of the Military Engineers Service (MES) section have not been regularized.
Members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence Ministry expressed anger on the issue at a recent meeting and recommended that the officers and employees be regularized without delay. The matter came to light after the meeting of the watchdog reviewed the progress on Wednesday.
In the recent meeting, it was learned that the prime minister in September 2012 approved the proposal to bring 4,275 officers and employees who have completed 10 years of service in the MES branch under a pension scheme. On the other hand, the Armed Forces Division requested the committee to consider the regularization of their employment and an increase in annual increments for the MES officers and employees.
Committee Member Col (Retd) Faruk Khan questioned why the matter had been delayed this much. He proposed to report the matter to the cabinet secretary. He also requested the senior secretary of the Ministry of Defence to notify the prime minister of the matter.
Besides, he expressed anger that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Administration had sent joint secretary and deputy secretary level officials to the meeting of the Ministry of Defence. He said the participants should bring full powers as representatives of the senior secretary.
Another member of the JS body, Md Nasir Uddin, wondered how and why the Finance Division and the Ministry of Public Administration could not implement the prime minister's order in more than 10 years.
“No one else should have the power to interfere with the approval of the prime minister,” he said, recommending the senior secretaries of the Finance Division and the Public Administration Ministry to appear in the next meeting and give explanations on the matter.
Lawmaker Nasir Uddin stressed that a representative of the senior secretary will not be allowed next time.
Committee President Subid Ali Bhuiya said it is not appropriate if an employee cannot be permanent even after 30 years of service in a department. The Finance Division and the Ministry of Public Administration can give their opinion as per the rules. But the reality should also be considered.
After the discussions, the committee recommended that the Finance Division, Ministry of Public Administration and Ministry of Defence will take necessary measures to regularize the jobs of 4,275 casual officers of the MES branch with special consideration and humanitarian reasons.
At the same time, it was recommended that the authorities concerned take appropriate action regarding the payment of salaries as per the annual increment to the casual employees of MES appointed after August 2016.
In Wednesday's meeting, the progress report of these two recommendations stated that necessary activities were underway.