Chhatra League’s organisational structure is in terrible disorder as the central committee as well as most of the district committees expired last year, with no sign of fresh councils.
Many Chhatra League leaders have government jobs but are still holding their organisational positions, violating the charter.
The present central committee led by President HM Bodiuzzaman Shohag and General Secretary Siddique Nazmul Alam – both students of Dhaka University – was formed on July 11, 2011.
It ran out in July last year and a new committee should have been formed through a council before that but no council has been held as yet, much to the frustration of the leaders who aspire to lead the organisation in the future.
The current committee was also supposed to form 101 local committees in districts before becoming expired. But in the past three years, only 54 committees were formed, 17 of which have already run out.
The organisation’s charter says nobody above the age of 29 can become a member of the central committee. The fact that a council is not on the cards worries leaders who are nearing the age limit.
Apart from the anomalies, members of the ruling party’s student wing have also drawn criticism for their alleged involvement in acts like extortion, mugging and taking money in the name of securing admission to different educational institutions.
Chhatra League activists hardly follow the organisation’s charter, which makes it mandatory for the primary members to renew their membership at the end of every academic session. But the requirement has not been fulfilled in the recent years.
The charter also says the central executive committee should hold a meeting in every two months, but only two meetings were arranged by the present committee before it expired.
Violation of employment-membership rule
According to section 2(c) of the charter of Chhatra League, those who begin working in the public sector cannot continue holding their posts.
Website of the organisation says Rahul Patwari is the programme and planning secretary but he joined the police department through BCS. Similarly, Chhatra League’s Mass Education Secretary Mukib Mia is now an education officer (BCS) while both Health Secretary Ataul Karim and Private University Secretary Md Zaved are health officers (BCS).
Deputy Office Secretary Rasheduzzaman is a library official at Dhaka University, Deputy Literature Secretary Sheikh Baten and Deputy Finance Secretary Syed Ashraful Alam are NSI officers, Deputy Information and Research Secretary Imran is a BCS (economics) officer, Deputy Literature Secretaries Tarikul Islam and Shahidullah Mamun are sub-inspectors, and Deputy Health Secretary Mahfuzur Rahman is a lecturer at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.
Siddique Nazmul Alam claimed these people were no longer in the committee and the list on the website had not been updated.
But several Chhatra League leaders confirmed that the aforementioned members were yet to give up their posts.
Expired district committees
Chhatra League has 101 district committees, and according to section 9(b) of its charter, such a committee is valid for only a year. This makes 37 district committees, which were formed last year, still valid.
But 25 committees were formed in 2012, 13 in 2011 and two in 2012, and all those have run out.
The committees in Faridpur, Shariatpur, Bagerhat and Madaripur were formed at least a decade ago.
Requesting anonymity, an organising secretary of the central committee of Chhatra League said: “Top leaders took large sums of money from local leaders while forming committees which is why councils were not held. Announcements were made only through press releases.”
Siddique Nazmul Alam told the Dhaka Tribune they were working on it.
“We formed a good number of committees last year,” he added.
No sign of council
On August 31 last year, the central committee held a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the chief guest.
Those who joined the rally expected specific directives from the prime minister about forming a fresh committee but she said nothing about that.
Asking not to be named, a vice-president of the central committee said: “She [Hasina] was our last hope as we expected that she would address the issue. But she said nothing, leaving us very frustrated. We do not know how long we will have to wait for another council.”
Siddique Nazmul Alam told the Dhaka Tribune they were busy with the district committees and would arrange a council of the central committee when the prime minister would direct to do so.
“Chhatra League is a big organisation. Two years are not enough to finish all the organisational tasks. Not just us, every previous central committee functioned even after expiry,” he added.
