Rajshahi Education Chairman Md Habibur Rahman has been made an officer on special duty (OSD) over allegations of irregularities in promotions of 15 officials.
The authorities also suspended the promotions of the 15 officials, declaring the promotions illegal,
A letter signed by Akter Unnecha Shiuli, deputy secretary of the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, was issued on March suspending the promotion of six officials and on March 19, nine others were suspended.
An investigation by the Directorate of Inspection and Audit revealed serious irregularities in the promotion of 15 officials of the Rajshahi Board.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) issued two separate letters.
In view of this, from November 23 to 25, 2021, a five-member investigation committee went to the Rajshahi Education Board and investigated the complaint on the spot.
In January last year, this committee submitted the report to the ACC and DSHE.
The report recommended the suspension of the promotion of these 15 officers and a refund of the excess wages received due to the promotion.
After the inquiry report went to the Ministry, it was decided to suspend the promotion and refund the extra money received.
According to the investigation report, these irregularities in promotion happened during the tenure of two former chairmen of the Rajshahi Education Board, Prof Abul Kalam Azad and Prof Dr Mokbul Hossain.
They committed various irregularities to promote 15 officials in two rounds.
The inquiry also revealed that the selection committee of the board had also recommended their promotion without following the rules.
In 2017, the first nine were promoted from seventh grade to sixth grade. They are Deputy College Inspector Nesar Uddin Ahmed, Deputy School Inspector Manik Chandra Sen, Former Deputy Secretary (Administration) Walid Hossain, Deputy Controller of Examinations (Certificate and Records) Manjur Rahman Khan, Sports Officer Liton Sarkar, Accounts Officer Shafikul Islam, Audit Officer Selina Parveen, Deputy Controller of Examinations (Secondary) Zahidur Rahman and Deputy Controller of Examinations (UMA) Hosne Ara Arju.
To promote them, the selection committee conducted the oral examination of 48 eligible officers on April 21, 2017, in the board chairman's room. The chairman of the committee was Prof Abul Kalam Azad, the then chairman of the board.
Out of the 48, the committee recommended nine for promotion, and they were promoted on July 9, 2017.
Although there were rules for promotion through the annual confidential report, educational qualification, and written and oral examination of officers, the authorities did not follow the procedure.
The promotion list of nine candidates was finalized on the basis of oral examination only.
On January 15, 2020, the then-chairman of the board, Mokbul Hossain, promoted six more people to the fifth grade in violation of the rules.
They are, Deputy Controller of Examination (JSC) Farid Hasan, Deputy Controller of Examination (Script) Ruby, Deputy Secretary (Repository) Durul Hoda, Deputy Secretary (Protocol) Khorshed Alam, Deputy School Inspector (Reg) Md Nuruzzaman, and Library and Information Documentation Officer Sultana Sharmin Akhter.
Initially, the officers of ranks 1 to 9 were promoted from the disputed merit list, but this rank was not followed in the case of the second promotion. In the second phase, the officers ranked 12, 13, 20, 21, 25, and 38 were promoted.
In the letter from the Ministry of Education regarding these six people, the Board of Education has been told that the promotion order of the six people should be suspended and the evidence should be sent to this department of the Ministry.
Secretary of Rajshahi Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board Humayun Kabir said: "We will take administrative action in view of the letter. There is no scope for negligence in the implementation of government directives.”