A large number of officials at Janata Bank have voiced strong dissatisfaction over a newly drafted promotion policy, alleging that it favours a particular group and undermines merit and fairness.
Employees who joined as senior officers through the Bankers鈥� Selection Committee since 2019 have submitted a formal letter to the bank鈥檚 chairman and managing director on Tuesday demanding reconsideration of the policy.
The proposed policy introduces a scoring system that awards up to seven marks based on total length of service 鈥� counting from the date of joining the bank, regardless of grade, the officials said in the letter.
Under this formula, officers who joined earlier in a lower grade (10th grade officer) could surpass those who directly entered as senior officers (9th grade), leading to what many are calling a structurally biased system, they said
For example, an officer promoted to senior officer under the bank鈥檚 supernumerary promotion scheme on December 31, 2019, will receive 3.64 marks based on total service, while a directly recruited senior officer who joined in mid-2019 would only receive 1.40 marks, despite having more relevant grade-level experience.
This discrepancy, officials argue, will allow lower-grade officers to leapfrog over 3,000 colleagues in promotion eligibility.
They argue that such a policy would harm morale and create long-term instability within the institution.
A number of Janata Bank officials said that the policy was designed to benefit officers recruited during the tenure of former bank chairman Abul Barkat, allegedly bypassing competitive procedures.
They warn that this politically influenced structure risks undoing recent efforts to restore transparency in the bank鈥檚 operations.
