Govt moves to rein in easy ride to secy post

Officials without at least one year experience as additional secretary will not be eligible for promotion to the rank of secretary, according to a recent government decision.
The decision comes in the wake of wholesale promotion that saw around 450 officials being promoted to the ranks of deputy secretary, joint secretary, and additional secretary after the interim government took the power on August 8.
As the promotions were made with retrospective effect, many of the recently promoted additional secretaries, who have been in service for over 22 years, are eligible to be immediately promoted as secretaries.
However, the public administration ministry has decided not to give them promotion before they work as additional secretary for at least one year.
As per the current rules the requirement is two years.
The interim government is under tremendous pressure from civil servants who deem themselves as “discriminated” and demand promotion, officials said.
According to sources, some competent officials were deprived of promotions during the Awami League’s 15-year rule.
However, under the new administration, many officers took advantage of the situation and got promoted as additional secretary. Now they are lobbying for promotion as secretary, sources said.
There are instances where officials have moved from senior assistant secretary to additional secretary in just a week.
For example, Babul Mia, a 15th batch BCS official, was promoted to deputy secretary on August 13, joint secretary on August 15, and additional secretary on August 18.
Former secretary and public administration researcher AKM Abdul Awal Majumder, told The Daily Star that the interim government has promoted several officials soon after coming into power.
“Some of them really deserved the promotion because they were deprived for a long time. There were some who took advantage of the situation. But, as far as promotion to the top post such as secretaries or heads of agencies, experience for a certain period is very important,” said Majumder.
He said that the latest decision for at least one-year experience is a good move.