Officials of 25 cadres announce work abstention tomorrow protesting suspension of 12

Officials from 25 cadres of the Bangladesh Civil Service will observe a full-day work abstention tomorrow (2 March) in protest against the suspension of 12 government officers, the Inter-Cadre Discrimination Elimination Council has announced.

"We are issuing a one-week ultimatum for the reinstatement of 12 officials who were suspended for expressing their personal opinions on social media," the council's Coordinator Muhammad Mofizur Rahman said at a view exchange meeting with journalists at the Agricultural Information Service conference hall in Dhaka's Khamarbari today (1 March).

During the strike, officials will wear black badges and stand in front of their respective offices with banners from 10:30am to 11:30am, he said. "However, emergency services, including hospital emergency departments, will remain operational."

Mofizur warned that if the issue is not resolved within the next week, they will be compelled to announce stricter programmes. "We hope the concerned authorities will take necessary steps to address the matter."

During the meeting, the council also presented 15-point proposals to address disparities among Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) cadres.

In his keynote speech, Mofizur highlighted that the Public Administration Reform Commission had previously received proposals from the 25 cadres for establishing profession-based ministries and abolishing the quota system for appointments to the post of deputy secretary. 

He emphasised that while civil service professionalism has been widely advocated, the reform commission's report appears to favour further concentration of power in the hands of a particular influential group.

"If fully implemented, this report will undermine state reform efforts and strengthen administrative fascism," he said.

The keynote paper also pointed out concerns about education and health sectors.

Mofizur argued that rather than removing these sectors from cadre-based services outright, the recruitment process is being subtly altered to gradually detach them from mainstream administration.

Additionally, the council's coordinator criticised the exclusion of family planning cadre from reform proposals and the unjustified recommendation to remove the statistics cadre from the service, stating that such measures would discourage talented individuals from joining these sectors, ultimately leading to a talent drain.

Key proposals presented by the council include the implementation of profession-based ministries where each cadre oversees its relevant ministry, abolishing the quota system for deputy secretary appointments to ensure merit-based recruitment, and ensuring equal treatment for all BCS cadres.

The council also advocate for keeping education and health cadres under a unified commission, retaining family planning and statistics cadres within the public service system, and cancelling the provision allowing only administration cadre officials to return to their previous services after joining the Superior Executive Service.

Additionally, the council calls for abolishing the proposal to grant deputy commissioners the authority of district magistrates, renaming the Administrative Service as Land Service or Land Management Service, and changing the Ministry of Public Administration's name to the Ministry of Human Resource Management or the Ministry of Government Employee Management.