A vast majority — 93.5% — of serving government employees are against contractual appointment in various administrative posts, a pay commission report has said.
Government officials interviewed by the National Pay and Services Commission (NPSC) have said excessive contractual recruitments have been blocking their promotion, resulting in frustration.
The issue came up in a report that the NPSC has submitted to the government earlier this week proposing revision of salaries for public servants and pensioners.
According to the government’s Public Administration Division, around 200 administrative posts are currently held by retired civil and military officials, appointed on contracts. Just a year ago, the number was 115.
The commission, led by former Bangladesh Bank governor Mohammad Farashuddin, said in the report that too many contractual appointments have opened up scope for nepotism and politicisation of the civil service.
Only 378 out of a total of 5,472 government servants surveyed by the NPSC were in favour of contractual appointments.
A member of the commission told the Dhaka Tribune: “In most cases, contractual jobs have been given to retired or serving army personnel and sometimes to retried bureaucrats...Because of these appointments, existing carders are feeling deprived.”
Another commission member said: “Administrative cadres are usually controlled by the bureaucracy. So, neither appointing people from outside nor cancelling contractual jobs is easy.”
Some officials believe that political governments get the opportunity to appoint people contractually because of the declining standard of civil bureaucrats.
“Contractual appointment is a common practice around the world for better service. But excessive contractual appointments of chosen officers to key positions in the name of better service have become common in Bangladesh,” observed a senior official of the Establishment Ministry.
There are allegations that despite being inefficient, many people were appointed for contractual jobs only from political considerations.
When contacted, former adviser to a caretaker government AB Mirza Azizul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “Ending contractual jobs in the public administration without building an efficient regular work force will not be a good idea.”
