Speakers at a seminar held in Dhaka on Saturday condemned arbitrary suspension of officials from education, health, fisheries and livestock cadres, and the public administration reform commission鈥檚 negligence in listening to the voice of those protesting against inter-cadre discrimination.
In early January, some civil servants outside the administration cadre were abruptly suspended after they had posted remarks on Facebook criticising the administration cadre.
Citing elimination of discrimination within the government bureaucracy as a prerequisite for establishing anti-discriminatory Bangladesh, speakers at the seminar stated that administration cadre officers were still showing 鈥榝ascist鈥� attitude by wielding their supremacy in the bureaucracy.
Citing that the Senior Services Pool Order of 1979 was not exclusive to any specific cadre, they said that the administration cadre officers maintained a quota system under various pretexts, posing a serious hurdle to building a merit-based and civic welfare-oriented bureaucracy.
The inter-cadre discrimination elimination council hosted the seminar at the Krishi Institute Bangladesh Auditorium at Khamarbari in Dhaka city.
The event began with a keynote presentation by the council coordinator Professor Muhammad Mofizur Rahman who pointed out inefficiency, wastage of public money, politicised bureaucracy and unaccountability, among others, as the consequences of the administration cadre鈥檚 supremacy.聽聽
Ganosamhati Andolan chief coordinator Zonayed Saki observed that sector-wise skills development, especially on administrative work, in the non-administration cadre services was deliberately ignored for years to favour the administration cadre.
Criticising the mentality to undermine the other cadres, he stressed change in the mindset for reforming the bureaucratic structures.聽
鈥楾he existing discrimination within the civil service wouldn鈥檛 be acceptable. The post-uprising moment has created a scope for eliminating the 鈥渦nfair鈥� quota system and other types of discrimination from the civil service,鈥� he said.聽
Dhaka University graduate and one of the organisers of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, Sadekur Rahman Sunny, labelled administration cadre officials as the facilitators of the now ousted Sheikh Hasina-led regime. He warned, 鈥楩ascism within the bureaucracy or any other spheres would not be allowed.鈥�
Writer Firoz Ahmed said that inefficient leadership by the administration cadre, at many stages, encouraged wastage of public money and corruption.
BCS General Education Cadre Association鈥檚 former president Professor Nazreen Begum complained that administration cadre鈥檚 supremacy 鈥榰nfairly鈥� capped the other cadre officials鈥� promotion in many cases.
Department of Agricultural Extension鈥檚 former director Iqbal Ahmed Chowdhury warned that reforms of other sectors would fail if discrimination within the civil service continued to prevail.
Chaired by Ahsan Kabir, former bureaucrats, lawyers, university teachers and representatives from 25 cadres other than administration cadre attended the seminar.
