The government in an abrupt move has shuffled positions of 22 Joint Secretary-level officials in the public administration less than a month before the parliamentary election.
Two of them have been made officer on special duty (OSD) while 16 OSDs have been made Joint Secretaries. Also, four others have been transferred.
The Ministry of Public Administration in two separate circulars on Wednesday made the shuffles.
The Election Commission (EC), however, has not been notified about the changes.
It is mandatory to notify the EC if the government were to bring any changes to the administration during the time of election.
But EC Secretary Md Sadique told reporters that shuffles could be made even without notifying the Commission in some cases if the officials were not related to the elections.
“But permission [from the EC] must be taken first to transfer those who are involved in organising the election,” he added.
The main opposition, BNP has been criticising transfers and shuffles of administration officials even after declaring that the party would boycott Jan 5 general elections.
It has alleged that the government has been appointing officials who are aligned to it to important positions in order to influence the elections.
When approached, one of the Election Commissioners said no files regarding the administrative changes were placed in the Commission meeting until Wednesday afternoon.
EC officials said the Commission was being notified about the regular shuffles in the administration only after they were made.
In an EC directive issued on Nov 28, the Cabinet Division was told that after the election schedule was announced, officials related to organising the elections could not be transferred until 15 days after the voting.
The deputy commissioners of the districts and divisional commissioners have been appointed as Returning Officers and Upazila Nirbahi Officers as Assistant Returning Officers for the polls.
The Shuffle
Of the 16 OSDs who have been made Joint Secretaries, Begum Nasrin Aktar has been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Golam Md Hasibul Alam was sent to Economic Relations Division (ERD), Akram Hossain and Md Azharul Haque to the Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment and Md Habibur Rahman Khan to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Abdul Hai was made Director at the Ministry of Education, Md Shawkat Ali the BRTA Secretary, Md Jamal Hossain a member of the Rural Electrification Board, Abul Hashem a member of the Administrative Appeal Tribunal, Abdul Halim Molla Additional Director General of Water Development Board and Rabindra Nath Sharma was made Director of the Rural Development Board.
ASM Imdadul Dastagir was made the Director of Public Service Commission Secretariat, KM Kabir Ahmed Manager of Court of Wards: Dhaka Nawab Estate, Azizul Haque Director of Export Promotion Bureau, M Mahbub Ul Alam a Project Director in food department, Dr Md Sajedul Hasan was appointed as the deputy chief of human resource management unit in the health ministry.
Department of Social Services Director (Joint Secretary) Md Mahfuzul Haque and Project Director at Social Welfare Ministry Md Delwar Hossain Khan, both were made OSDs at the Ministry of Public Administration.
The Joint Secretaries who were transferred are Civil Aviation Authority Director Lokman Hossain Mia, BRTA Secretary Nurul Islam, Energy and Mineral Resources Division Joint Secretary Md Sefaul Alam and health ministry Joint Secretary Mahmud Aktar.
Lokman Hossain was made Madrasa Education Board Chairman, Islam Director of BISIC, Alam was made the Director General of IMED and Aktar was sent to the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
In another circular, Power Department Additional Secretary Md Mofazzal Hossain was appointed as the Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project Director.
No objection from EC
The Election Commission did not object to the shuffles in many ministries including home, public administration and health until now, except the post-promotion transfers of 20 officials in the Department of Cooperatives.
Transfers of these officials were objected as they were involved in the process of organizing the election, said a Senior Assistant Secretary at the EC Secretariat, asking not to be named.
Also, the Dhaka Divisional Commissioner and Khulna Deputy Commissioner – both returning officers – were transferred on Dec 14 following the EC’s directive.
Source: Bd news24