The government has removed the Principal Secretary to the Chief Adviser from the Civil Administration Committee, which advises on the recruitment, transfer and discipline of senior civil servants. The Cabinet Division issued a notification late Tuesday (23 September) announcing the committee’s reconstitution.
The committee was originally formed on 8 January, chaired by Economic Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed, to advise on the appointments, transfers and disciplinary measures of senior officials, including divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and joint secretaries upwards. At that time, Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Adviser Muhammad Fauzul Kabir Khan and Environment, Forest and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan were made members, while then-Information and Broadcasting Adviser Mahfuz Alam was appointed member secretary. The Cabinet Secretary and the Secretary/Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration also sat on the committee.
On 26 August, the committee was reshuffled, appointing Syeda Rizwana Hasan as member secretary and inducting new Information and Broadcasting Adviser Md Mahfuz Alam as a member following Nahid Islam’s resignation. The Principal Secretary to the Chief Adviser was also added as a member at that time.
Meanwhile, on 20 September, retired secretary Shamsul Alam alleged in a Facebook post that large sums of money were being exchanged for appointments to important government posts. The former official, who went on post-retirement leave in March, claimed that under the current interim administration “one can buy a secretary post with cash,” asserting he had evidence.
A day after his Facebook post, Mokhlesur Rahman was transferred from the Ministry of Public Administration to the Planning Commission as a member. Shortly thereafter, the government again restructured the Civil Administration Committee.
