The advisory council of the interim government on Thursday approved the draft of the ‘Public Service (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025’, creating provisions for removing government employees from jobs for ‘indiscipline’.Â
The decision was made during the 29th meeting of the advisory council at the Chief Adviser’s Office at Tejgaon in the capital Dhaka with chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus in the chair.
The Cabinet Division in a press release confirmed the approval but did not disclose the details of the draft ordinance.
An ordinance would be promulgated after it is vetted by the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division of the law ministry.
However, officials concerned said that the proposed amendment included provisions to make it easier to take disciplinary actions against government employees or even dismiss them for specific offenses.
According to the ministry of public administration officials, four key actions were identified as punishable offences for government employees.
These are engaging in acts that incite disobedience or disrupt discipline among colleagues or obstruct the performance of duties, being absent from work individually or collectively without leave or just cause, inciting or encouraging other employees to abstain from their duties, and obstructing any government employee from attending work or performing their duties.
Under the draft ordinance, penalties for these offences can include demotion to a lower rank or pay grade, dismissal from service, or removal from the job.
The proposed changes largely revive and reframe provisions from regulations that date back over four decades, with revisions being introduced to align with the Public Service Act, 2018.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Inter-Ministerial Employees’ Association on Thursday urged the immediate intervention from the chief adviser to reconsider the draft of the ‘Government Service (Amendment) Ordinance 2025’.
The newly approved draft — which seeks to amend the Government Service Act, 2018 — poses serious constitutional concerns and threatens to curtail the freedom of thought and conscience of public employees, said the association in a statement.
‘If enacted, the ordinance may lead to widespread misuse of power, discrimination, and fear-driven service conditions, effectively turning public servants into personal subordinates of certain vested interests,’ it said.
A number of public servants, despite heavy rain, staged a demonstration inside the secretariat in protest of the proposed ordinance on Thursday.
They marched around building 1, 2, and 3 and gathered below the new 20-storey building at the secretariat and chanted slogans opposing the ordinance.
Md Nazrul Islam, coordinator of the association, said that the ordinance must be withdrawn immediately in the interest of developing a skilled, empowered, and discrimination-free public workforce.
He argued that the approved draft contradicted several key provisions of the constitution of Bangladesh.
Over 14 lakh government employees across the country are now anxiously awaiting a reconsideration of the ordinance before its final enactment, the statement also added.
The advisory council meeting decided that the Cabinet Division would assess whether the recommendations of the reform commission were implementable.
The Cabinet Division will be responsible for overall coordination in this regard.
The advisory council meeting also approved a proposal to sign the ‘The Protection and Conservation of Fish (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025’; the Memorandum of Understanding between the government of Bangladesh and the Netherlands on cooperation in naval defence equipment; and the draft ‘Welfare and Rehabilitation of Families of Martyrs and Injured Students and Public in the July Uprising Ordinance, 2025’.