The government has decided to scrap the provision requiring intelligence agencies to check the political affiliations of candidates during recruitment and promotion in the civil service.
The decision was taken at the second meeting of the Governance Innovation Unit to review the implementation of the Public Administration Reform Commission recommendations at the Chief Adviser鈥檚 Office on Monday with principal secretary聽M Siraz Uddin Miah聽in the chair.
The Governance Innovation Unit is led by a director general with the rank of additional secretary and is looked after by the secretary to the Chief Adviser鈥檚 Office.
The decision came following recommendations from the Public Administration Reform Commission while the Ministry of Public Administration, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the relevant departments have been tasked with implementing the decision.
The provision for police verification in all cases except dual citizenship has already been cancelled by the government, according to the meeting.
Officials said that recruitment and promotion in the government services had earlier involved verification through police and intelligence agencies to scrutinise the political affiliation of the candidate being recruited or promoted as well as that of their relatives.
As a result, many qualified candidates were denied jobs or promotions due to negative reports from these agencies.
The Administrative Reform Commission recommended abolishing the practice of taking into account the political identity of the candidates and their relatives during recruitment and promotion, commenting that this was the very first stage when the politicisation of the administration began.
The Monday meeting decided that the provision of considering the political identity through intelligence agencies in recruitment and promotion must be abolished.
The meeting also took a decision that the Energy and Cabinet divisions would have to ensure the toilet facilities at all petrol pumps on highways for both male and female clean and healthy by July 20 鈥� another recommendation made by the commission.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics will be made the Bangladesh Statistics Commission immediately as per another recommendation of the commission to make the organisation dynamic.聽聽
The meeting further decided that the Cabinet Division would from a committee, after an analysis, to submit a report regarding the recommendation for assigning Upazila Nirbahi Officers to reserved and statutory issues such as the law and order, land management, and mobile court operations while appointing a senior assistant secretary as the secretary to the upazila parishad.
Regarding the recommendation for transferring the Land Registration Department from the Ministry of Law to the Ministry of Land, the representatives from the law ministry to the meeting said that it would not be possible in near future.
It was discussed that the matter could be taken up with the National Consensus Commission and the chief adviser for a final decision.
The meeting also decided that the Finance Division would conduct a detailed review and make a proposal to the Chief Adviser鈥檚 Office by July 31 with respect to the recommendation that said employees at the top promotion level might receive the next pay scale after two years.
A decision was also taken to form a committee with secretaries from the Cabinet Division, Finance Division, and public administration and law ministries to prepare a full report over establishing a permanent and independent Administrative Reform Commission.
In first meeting of the Governance Innovation Unit on June 16, eight comparatively easier-to-implement proposals were discussed in detail and decisions were made regarding their implementation.
The progress on those decisions was also discussed in the Monday meeting. It was decided to issue a policy guideline on forming managing committees for colleges and secondary schools by July 25.
It also decided to make dynamic the websites of the ministers and divisions in one month while all websites under three clusters -- ministry/division, office/directorate, and the field level -- would have to be made dynamic by December 2025.
The meeting took a decision to issue a revised circular by the Cabinet Division by July 24 on ensuring public hearings on complaints of service seekers at regular intervals in all government offices.
After the fall of Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 government amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5, 2024, an interim government was formed with Professor Muhammad Yunus as the chief adviser.
Later, six reform commissions, including the Administrative Reform Commission, were first established. Five other reform commissions were formed later.
