Govt promotes 193 officials to joint secretaries

The government has promoted 193 deputy secretaries and officials of equivalent ranks to joint secretaries despite having no permanent posts for them.

They were attached to the public administration ministry as officers on special duty on Thursday as part of the procedure.

The number of joint secretaries now stands at 842, whereas the number of permanent posts is only 430, according to public administration ministry officials.

Officials from the 13th BCS batch and those left out from previous batches were elevated.

This is the fifth time that the ministry announced promotions on a massive scale during the Hasina-led administration, said a top official of the public administration ministry.

More officers will be promoted to deputy secretaries soon, he added.

 

On Dec 11, the government promoted 128 joint secretaries to additional secretaries.

The ministry had prepared a list of names for promotions after multiple meetings with the Superior Selection Board or SSB headed by the cabinet secretary. Last month, it sent the list to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her approval.

The premier sent back the list with observations. The SSB held another meeting to finalise the list.

Hasina approved the list on Thursday night. “The order was issued the same night to avoid a delay for the weekend,” said a senior government official.

On Apr 23, the government promoted 267 senior assistant secretaries to deputy secretaries. In November last year, 536 officials were elevated to deputy secretaries, joint secretaries and additional secretaries.

In May 2016, the government promoted 217 officials to the same posts while 873 got the ranks of deputy-secretary, joint-secretary and additional secretary in June 2015.

The Awami League government promoted 2,528 officers to different ranks between 2009 and 2013.

Among them, 78 were promoted to secretaries, 293 to additional secretaries, 1,091 to joint secretaries and 1,066 to deputy secretaries.