Nine ministers, state ministers and parliamentary standing committee members have recently given demi official (DO) to promote 10 admin cadre officials.

A minister has given a DO letter in favour of an officer to promote him to the post of secretary while a minister has issued DO letters for promoting a deputy secretary to the post of joint secretary. 

The DOs have been sent to public administration ministry state minister Farhad Hossain and senior secretary Mesbah Uddin Chowdhury.

Ministers, who have written DO letters, are liberation war affairs minister AKM Mozammel Haque, industries minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, agriculture minister Abdur Razzaque, textiles and jute minister Ghulam Dastgir Gazi, state minister for youth and sports Zahid Ahsan and state minister for information and communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak. 

Disaster management and relief ministry-related parliamentary standing committee member Solaiman Haque Joarder also gave a DO letter for promotion of an officer.

Apart from this, in June and July, minister of liberation war affairs AKM Mozammel Haque, minister of state for shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury and a member of parliamentary standing committee related to the ministry of liberation war affairs Shajahan Khan gave DO letters for the promotion of two officers, which was reported in Prothom Alo. 

Former Cabinet Secretary Ali Imam Majumder and former Rector of Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center (PATC) Abdul Awal Majumder told Prothom Alo that giving DOs to ministers like this and approaching ministers to take DOs are not legal.

Ministers take oath saying that they will not act out of affection or ill-will. But these DO letters on behalf of an officer or showing partiality to an officer, is contrary to oath.

The Government Servants (Conduct) Rules state that no Government servant shall directly or indirectly approach any Member of Parliament or any other private person with any request or proposal to intervene on his behalf.

But giving DO or approaching ministers to get DO has not abated. Rather, it has increased. The reason is that there is a big promotion from deputy secretary to joint secretary in the offing, a few days ahead of the upcoming National Assembly elections. It's time for the retirement of some secretaries. There too the government will appoint trusted officers. Meanwhile, ministers and members of parliament are issuing DOs to promote officers of their choice.

Senior secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration Mesbah Uddin Chowdhury told Prothom Alo that semi-official paper is a means of communication. The ministers drew the attention of the Ministry of Public Administration through this medium. The attention of the Ministry is attracted. However, the rules of public administration should be followed in the promotion of officials. There is no way to go beyond it.

They are ‘’honest and qualified’’
An analysis of the eight DOs issued by the ministers shows that they have mentioned those whom they have requested for promotion as honest, competent, efficient and meritorious. In a few cases, their reputation in the workplace is discussed. In some cases, the officials are mentioned as former workers of Chhatra League, family members of liberation war supporters and loyalists of the government.

Here also the question arises as to why DO is needed for promotion of honest, competent and efficient officers. Why would the minister highlight the identity of a party organisation worker and request for promotion?

Former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder told Prothom Alo on Tuesday that the DOs given by the ministers amounts to lobbying. He referred to the statement given to Prothom Alo on 27 July as a new statement. In his earlier speech, he said that the official on whose behalf the minister and members of parliament gave the letter should be brought under punishment. Because he is the one who advocated for sending the letter. He also said that ministers and members of parliament should be banned from giving DO in this way. It tarnishes the image of the administration.

One of the officers who have been given DO for promotion is Kamrun Nahar, Additional Secretary, Liberation War Affairs Ministry.

Minister of Liberation War Affairs Mozammel Haque gave a DO to promote her to the top step (Grade-1) of the salary structure of government employees on June 6.

Director of a project of the National Liberation Fighter Council (Deputy Secretary) Nurul Amin was promoted to the post of joint secretary by the DO on July 13. Apart from this, on June 6, the Minister of Liberation War Affairs issued a DO requesting the promotion of Muktijoddha Kalyan Trust managing director SM Mahabubur Rahman to the post of secretary.