Bribery is rampant even at a time when the local government ministry is underway to make temporary jobs permanent in the Sylhet City Corporation (SCC).
A syndicate is persuading some 300 temporary officials of the city corporation to spend money on bribing the local government officials into making their job permanent.
But the acting mayor Md Shahjahan said he did not get any written complaint from anyone about the bribery.
The local government division of the ministry recently formed a committee to make the temporary jobs permanent.
The committee with Senior Assistant Secretary Saroj Kumar Nath of the local government ministry went to Sylhet on last Wednesday.
According to sources, the syndicate became busy following the arrival of the committee.
The syndicate convinced the employees that they needed to please the committee members.
The bribery incident provoked outrage among the officials and staff of the city corporation. The city corporation sent a proposal to the local government ministry in 2003 in order to make the temporary officials permanent.
The ministry handed over the responsibility to the divisional commissioner of Sylhet that later submitted the report to the ministry with proofs of irregularity.
Following the report, Senior Secretary Delwar Hossain of the local government division cancelled the permanent recruitment proposal of 431 officials in December 2007 and asked the divisional authorities to take legal action against those involved in corruption.
There were names of one first class official along with those of 15 second class, 222 third class and 193 fourth class officials on the proposal.
The officials later filed a writ with the High court (HC) against the order of the ministry. The HC came up with an order that also went against the ministry.
The ministry then decided to appeal against the HC verdict.
Talking with many senior councillors of the city corporation, it was learnt that 431 officials were appointed before finalising the organogram of the city corporation in 2003.
The irregularities regarding the recruitment surfaced during 1/11 when the local government division proposed to cancel the recruitment process.
The syndicate took bribe from the temporary employees for the second time in the name of saving their jobs by dealing with the issue in the court.
The syndicate members are again making all-out efforts to realise as much money as they can from the temporary employees in the name of pleasing the high-ups already in the city.
Contacted, acting mayor Md Shahjahan said some councillors have informed him about the bribery on Wednesday, but he has not received any written complaint yet.
Legal action will be taken immediately after getting written complaint in this regard, he said.
The process to make the jobs of more than 300 officials permanent is underway, he reiterated.
