Fresh deadlock grips NBR amid renewed protests demanding chairman's resignation

A new wave of protests has plunged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and its affiliated offices into a fresh deadlock, with officials demanding the immediate resignation of Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan along with other demands.

Protesters have accused the chairman of obstructing meetings, forming a controversial committee to amend the NBR ordinance, and irregularly transferring officials involved in protests.

Officials from various NBR offices in the capital gathered at the NBR headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka, today, chanting slogans against the chairman and staging a sit-in protest.

Meanwhile, the finance adviser has called a meeting for tomorrow to find a solution.

The NBR Reform Unity Council, leading the movement, has set a deadline of 27 June to meet their demands. These include the resignation of the chairman, stopping the transfer of officials involved in protests, and removing controversial members from the committee formed to amend the ordinance.

If their demands are not met, the council has announced a complete shutdown starting 28 June. This would suspend all services, including critical import and export operations, with only international passenger services remaining active.

Today, an official from Dhaka Customs House told The Business Standard,  "Our pen-down programme will continue until 1pm tomorrow."  

"After that," he added, "regular activities will resume. However, from the 28th, all operations will come to a complete halt, except for international passenger services, which will remain active."

Another protesting official said, "We were supposed to hold a major meeting on NBR reform, but under the chairman's instructions, we were not allowed to conduct that meeting at the NBR premises.

"Moreover, the committee formed to amend the ordinance includes controversial individuals. The chairman deliberately formed this committee with controversial figures in order to make the ordinance amendment process itself contentious."

NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman denied the claims that protesting officials were not given a room for their meeting. "They asked for a room three days ago, and we gave it to them," he told TBS.

At a press conference this afternoon, protesting officials symbolically tore up transfer orders issued for several officers.

"We thought the issue would be resolved through complete teamwork after Eid, but now our officials are being subjected to repression," said Mirza Ashique Rana, additional commissioner of taxes.

Another NBR official, speaking anonymously, said, "After the pen-down strike was announced, some officials were transferred. But by tearing up the transfer orders in protest, they broke government service rules."

Hasan Tareque Rikabder, president of the NBR Reform Unity Council, announced that they will hold a pen-down strike from noon to 5pm tomorrow.

During a press conference on Monday, Hasan Tareque and General Secretary Sehela Siddika accused the chairman of acting as a "political agent of the former Awami League government" and destabilising the country's revenue structure.

This accusation followed a sit-in and a three-hour pen-down strike at the NBR headquarters, where officers and staff wore symbolic burial shrouds to express frustration over what they termed "administrative vindictiveness."

Meanwhile, officials at the Custom House in Chattogram staged a three-hour pen-down strike on Monday, following a centrally announced programme. This disruption affected one of the country's busiest customs stations, which handles over 2,000 import bills and approximately 5,000 export documents daily.

The current wave of protests has intensified since the government issued an ordinance on 12 May, abolishing the NBR and the Internal Resources Division and introducing two new entities—the Revenue Policy Division and the Revenue Management Division.

Following the ordinance, NBR officials began a pen-down strike, which was suspended on 19 May. On 21 May, they declared ongoing non-cooperation with the NBR chairman and announced further programs to press their demands.