Recommendation of Promotion for 78 Officers: Report Submitted to the Chief Adviser

The Review Committee, formed to examine the appeals of retired government officials who had been denied promotions during one and a half decades of the Awami League government, has submitted its second report to Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.

On Wednesday (20 August), at the Chief Adviser’s Office, the committee’s convener and former Finance Secretary, Zakir Ahmed Khan, formally handed over the report to the Chief Adviser. This information was confirmed in a press release issued by the Chief Adviser’s Office.

According to the report, 78 retired officials from various cadres—excluding the Administration Cadre—holding positions of Grade-3 or above may be granted retrospective promotions.

The interim government has stated that since 2009 up until 4 August 2024, more than 2,500 officials in the Administration Cadre have been “deprived of promotion”. To address their grievances and provide due benefits, a five-member committee was formed on 16 September last year, led by Zakir Ahmed Khan, former Secretary of the Ministry of Finance.

The committee also included representatives from:

• Cabinet Division
• Ministry of Public Administration
• Finance Division of the Ministry of Finance
• Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs

The committee completed its work in two phases.

First and Second Phase Activities

• Phase One: Applications from deprived officials at the rank of Deputy Secretary and above were reviewed, and a report was submitted on 10 December last year.
• Phase Two: Applications were invited from officials of cadres other than the Administration Cadre who were deprived of promotions to Grade-3 or above posts.

In total, 318 applications were received. Out of these:

• 68 applications were outside the scope of work
• 40 applications were incomplete due to insufficient information
• 108 applications were thus declared ineligible
• 210 applications remained under review

To process these, the committee held 14 meetings.

For each cadre, a representative of Additional Secretary rank from the concerned administrative ministry was included in the evaluation. The committee prepared its recommendations after considering written suggestions, opinions of representatives, and relevant issues.

Promotion Recommendations

Promotion Steps Recommended:

• 6 officials → 3 steps promotion
• 17 officials → 2 steps promotion
• 55 officials → 1 step promotion

On the other hand, 132 officials were not recommended for promotion, with reasons specified in each case.

During the handover of the report, the Chief Adviser’s Principal Secretary, Siraj Uddin Mia, was also present.