Civil service promotions draw criticism over alleged bias and vetting gaps

Bangladesh’s latest civil service promotion exercises have come under scrutiny after allegations of discrimination in promotions to additional secretary during the interim government’s tenure and questions over the promotion of 179 deputy secretaries to joint secretary.

A group of officers from the 20th Bangladesh Civil Service (Administration) cadre claimed that more than 200 qualified officials were denied promotion despite meeting the required standards of merit, competence and satisfactory service records. They alleged that many eligible officers were overlooked while 85 officials from the batch were promoted ahead of the 13th parliamentary election.

The officers also alleged political influence in the process, claiming intelligence reports were used to label some officials politically and exclude them from promotion. They further alleged that seniority was overlooked and unofficial considerations were applied instead of established promotion criteria.

Calling for a review of the process, the officers urged the government to reassess eligible officials from the 20th BCS batch and ensure future promotions are based on transparency and merit.

The allegations could not be independently verified, and no immediate response was available from the Cabinet Division or the Ministry of Public Administration.

Fresh debate has also emerged over the government’s recent promotion of 179 deputy secretaries to joint secretary, one of the largest such promotion exercises under the current administration.

The promotion list included Mainul Haque Bhuiyan, who retired from the Information and Communication Technology Division on June 30 after reaching the mandatory retirement age. Bhuiyan confirmed that his name was intentionally included in the promotion list. Public administration experts said existing service rules do not ordinarily permit promotion after retirement.

The list also included several officials who had previously faced disciplinary action over misconduct or administrative irregularities.

Officials familiar with the process said the promotions were meant to address long-standing career stagnation. However, reports that some top-ranked officers were left out have raised further questions about whether merit was applied consistently.

Public administration expert Firoz Mia said promoting a retired officer is not permitted under existing law and warned that such decisions could weaken public confidence in the civil service promotion system.

SKS