The government has not yet been able to create new posts in the civil administration as per the requirements of different ministries, divisions or public offices as most of ministries or divisions had not yet submitted their proposals to the public administration ministry.
Thus, the procedure of creating new posts and filling up the vacancies as per the instructions of the cabinet had been delaying further.
Sources in the Ministry Public Administration said it was taking longer to prepare the proposals and begin the recruiting process for the vacancies as most of the ministries and divisions had not responded properly. The process of finalising the report will also be halted until getting proper responses from all the offices.
Earlier last week, public administration ministry’s Deputy Secretary AKM Mohiuddin sent a letter to all ministries and divisions emphasising on sending their proposals quickly to the ministry in this regard.
Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, who also heads a high power committee formed to guide the government in this regard, said: “We have sent letters to the ministries and divisions to submit their recommendations shortly to the public administration ministry.”
“The ministries and divisions, however, are not responding with their proposals or demands. It’s not that the committee is going to suggest the government to create new posts. A permanent standing committee of the cabinet division usually does that. The government will be suggested to fill up the vacancies in the bureaucracy. It will be done after getting the proposals as we have already held a meeting in this regard,” he added.
According to the public administration, the custodian of the public servants, there were around 2 lakh government posts vacant despite recruiting around 4 lakh officials and employees from January 2009 to July 2014.
Most of the offices or posts remained vacant due to legal issues created by pending writ petitions or cases in different courts.
In some cases, the offices became vacant due to promotion of the officials, retirement or transfer.
According to the ministry, around 100 offices of the Assistant Commissioner of Land (AC Land) were now vacant even after posting around 200 officers for the AC land offices recently.
The administration now has around 1,099 additional secretaries, joint secretary and deputy secretary level officers more than its approved number of posts. Of them, 150 were additional secretaries, 485 joint secretaries and 464 were deputy secretaries.
At the same time, the administration needs around 950 more officers in assistant secretary and senior assistant secretary level posts as around 500 deputy secretaries are now discharging their responsibilities in the offices of senior assistant secretaries as super numeracy officer.
Of them, around 250 were assistant secretaries and 700 were senior assistant secretaries.
The ministry sources said, around 50 additional secretaries and 200 joint secretaries were also working in the same office before they were promoted from the post of joint secretary and deputy secretary.
Around 3 secretaries, 57 additional secretaries, 302 joint secretaries, 136 deputy secretaries, 35 senior assistant secretaries and 50 assistant secretaries were made Officers on Special Duty (OSD) in the public administration ministry.
A huge number of those officials were working as attached officer in various ministries and divisions as OSD.
As a result, the civil administration has to face trouble to maintain its discipline regarding promotion, posting and deputation of the officials.
At the same time, there are 52 account officers, 52 accountants, 52 cashiers and 52 cash assistants in 52 ministries and divisions at present. The promotion of accountants, cashiers and cash assistants have also remained halted as account officers are not getting promotion.
Considering the issues, a cabinet meeting last April asked top-level civil bureaucrats to suggest the government regarding a solution to the problems. The cabinet also formed a high power committee in this regard, led by the cabinet secretary and senior secretary to the public administration ministry.
State Minister for Public Administration Ismat Ara Sadique told the Dhaka Tribune: “The cabinet has taken the decision to create some new posts for civil bureaucracy considering several issues of ministries and divisions. At the same time, works of these ministries and divisions had also been extended.”
She further said the government will create the posts in the civil administration considering the recommendation of the committee and then recruit new officials.
“But, the ministry is yet to receive their report with specific suggestions,” she added.