Akbar Ali wants ‘bizarre’ quotas in civil servant appointment abolished

Akbar Ali Khan has demanded that authorities get rid of the quota system in recruitment of civil servants, saying he finds it ‘bizarre’.

“Quota system is the biggest problem in cadre appointment in Bangladesh. The competent candidates are not getting jobs because of this,” the former adviser to a caretaker government told a seminar at the Dhaka University on Saturday.

“Many say quota system is bad, not good, it should be cancelled, but don’t go any further in commenting on the issue,” he added.

The former cabinet secretary said Bangladesh Public Service Commission makes appointment from 257 quotas.

“No other country in the world has such a weird system,” he said.    

Akbar Ali criticised the government for retaining the freedom fighter quota decades after the Liberation War.

He said the quota system was launched in Bangladesh to ‘elevate the poor, not to award anyone’.

“The freedom fighter quota was started because their condition was bad at the time, but what we offer in the name of freedom fighter quota now is absolutely unrealistic,” he said. 

In the appointment through Bangladesh Civil Service or BCS tests, the quota for freedom fighters’ children is 30 percent.

Including them, the total quota in BCS recruitments is 56 percent.

In recent years, the PSC has been appointing candidates on the basis of their position in the merit list after failing to fill out the posts from quotas.

The government has asked the PSC to keep posts vacant in case of getting no candidate from the freedom fighter quota, but the commission has been filling the empty posts with candidates from the next BCS test.

As the quotas for freedom fighters, women, and small ethnic groups could not be filled fully after the 35th BCS exams, the government decided to fill 338 posts from candidates on the merit list of 36th BCS the exams. 

The number of such recruitment from the candidates of the 33rd BCS tests to fill up the vacant posts of 32nd BCS tests was 1,125.

Demanding abolishment of the quota system, Akbar Ali said, “No country has the rule to retain quota system for an indefinite period. Quota system has put the brilliant people of the country at risk.”

The former top bureaucrat also sees ‘inconsistencies’ in the appointment system by the PSC and advised changes.   

“The PSC wants to fill up all the posts through a single test. It’s also a bizarre idea. You can’t get officials fit for particular cadres by using this system,” he said.

“The fittest candidates should be appointed on the basis of position. And some positions should be filled considering the candidates’ leadership quality. Bangladesh Civil Service needs these types of changes,” he elaborated.

Akbar Ali criticised the government for promoting more officials than there are posts for them. “This is taking additional time in taking decisions,” he said.

Dhaka University’s Department of Public Administration organised the seminar titled ‘Present Civil Service System in Bangladesh’.