Streamlining the bureaucracy

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Helal Uddin Ahmed
The Public Administration Reform Commission (PARC) was constituted by the previous Awami League-led government in January 1997 to recommend policies, programmes and activities for improving the level of efficiency, effectiveness, accountability and transparency in public organisations of Bangladesh. The then government displayed great pragmatism by setting up the Commission on the eve of the 21st century, when there was a global movement towards adoption of the concept of New Public Management (NPM). NPM envisages performance-based and result-oriented administration with 'outsourcing' and 'contracting out' wherever possible by upholding the right of citizens for better and cheaper services.
The Commission was headed by a distinguished civil servant and former DG of CIRDAP ATM Shamsul Haque as the chairman and included luminaries in the field like M Khalid Shams, Khandakar Asaduzzaman, Quazi Shamsul Alam, S A Samad, Akbar Ali Khan, Syed Manzur Elahi and Advocate Md Rahmat Ali as members. The Commission submitted a comprehensive 3-volume report to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in June 2000, covering many areas such as improvement of public services delivery, civil service reforms, reorganising institutions and rationalising manpower, restructuring field administration and decentralisation, combating corruption, reducing wastage and promoting value for money, strengthening parliamentary oversight, facilitating private investment and devising a mechanism for implementing PARC recommendations. It was a commendable report which synthesised many previous reports on public sector reorganisations and reforms since independence and incorporated the latest trends in public management all over the world. The then government was committed to implementing these recommendations, but unfortunately that could not materialise as the subsequent government which came to power in 2001 shelved those on political considerations. Thus ended a brave and bold attempt to overhaul and reform the country's age-old public administrative system.
The present article focuses on the recommendations put forward by PARC on reforming the civil service in Bangladesh. These recommendations were divided into interim, short-term and long-term ones. The first interim recommendation called for identification of employees in accordance with their grades and the second advocated raising the merit quota in government services. Increasing the merit quota from 45 per cent to 55 per cent was suggested in recruitment of class-I and class-II officers.
The first among the short-term recommendations was: 'Merit should be the basis for appointment, posting and promotion at all levels in all spheres of public administration'. This was because quotas were not consistent with the country's Constitution and were a poor substitute for provision of adequate facilities that could result in equality of opportunity for all sections of the society. Alongside the central Public Service Commission, the PARC also recommended creation of a Local Government Service Commission for recruitment of personnel in the local government bodies.
The second short-term recommendation of PARC was: 'Discipline should be enforced in all areas of Public Administration', as it considered laxity in enforcing discipline as one of the main reasons for deterioration of the civil service. The third recommendation dwelt on constitution of three clusters of closely related ministries in the Secretariat, namely, General, Economic, and Socio-Physical Infrastructure with the posts of Deputy Secretary and above. Ministry or Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs could remain outside the purview of those clusters.
In the fourth short-term recommendation, the PARC proposed that a Senior Management Pool (SMP) should be introduced in the Secretariat, which should consist of the posts of Deputy Secretary, Joint secretary, Additional Secretary and Secretary. Induction into SMP at the level of Deputy Secretary should be on the basis of competitive examination to be conducted by PSC. For the post of Deputy Secretary in a cluster of Ministries/Divisions, officers from all cadres - who are in the senior scale and have completed at least eight years of service would be eligible for appearance at the examination. This would ensure scope of representation from all cadres at the Secretariat and facilitate fast track promotion for the meritorious officers.
In the fifth recommendation, the PARC opined that existing officers of the Secretariat at various levels should continue to hold their existing positions and officers up to national grade-3 should be provided an option to choose their preferred cluster. The Superior Selection Board (SSB) should undertake a review to accommodate existing officers in these three clusters, considering their qualifications, experience and performance. But while appearing at the examination for induction into SMP, all cadre officers should given option for joining cluster(s) of their preference. Once inducted into SMP, they would lose their lien in previous cadre posts. Officers up to grade-3 and all support staff should rotate within a cluster of ministries. If found necessary and to meet special requirements, Ministries/Divisions within a cluster should be allowed to fill up to 10 per cent of their total posts (Deputy Secretary and above) on transfer from Ministries/Divisions belonging to other clusters.
The PARC opined in the sixth recommendation that the government may allow up to 15 per cent lateral entry in the Secretary-level posts and up to 10 per cent in the posts of Deputy Secretary and above. These posts and the posts of all heads of Corporations and other government Departments/Directorates (subject to provisions in the concerned recruitment rules) could be filled up through open competition for a fixed tenure. All government officers up to two steps below the relevant posts and candidates from the private sector with prescribed qualification would be eligible to compete for such posts.
In the seventh short-term recommendation, PARC advocated that appropriate steps should be taken for career advancement and equal scope for promotion in all cadres; in case of non-availability of vacancies for the competent incumbents, sanction of selection grade/time-scale should be considered.
The eighth recommendation called for a fixed tenure of three to five years for appointment to any particular post. The ninth recommendation opined that merit, efficiency, integrity, training and service records based on successes or failures in fulfilling performance targets should be the guiding principles for promoting officials. The present Annual Confidential Report (ACR) form should be amended accordingly.
The PARC opined in the tenth recommendation that the Government should continue to provide more opportunities and encouragement for employment of women. Enabling environment for working women should be ensured through suitable field accommodation, transportation, day-care centres, and separate toilets. The eleventh recommendation called for enhancing the retirement age of public servants from 57 to 60 years and stopping contractual appointments in the duty posts of the Government.
In the twelfth recommendation, the PARC held the view that three Public Service Commissions (PSCs) should be established - one for General services, another for Technical services and the third for Education services - in order to improve the standard of tests and reduce the time for recruitment. Appointment of chairmen in the proposed PSCs should preferably be on the basis of professional experience and skills in respective fields.
The thirteenth recommendation asked the then Ministry of Establishment (now called Ministry of Public Administration) to speedily implement the Action Plan on Training recommended by the Public Administration Training Strengthening Study 1998. The fourteenth recommendation called for recruitment of instructors and heads of all training institutions for training of class I officers through open competition on the basis of job specification and job description both from inside and outside the government.
The fifteenth short-term recommendation asserted that officers as well as support staff should be given proper training in computer literacy and other skills in the light of changing technology. Such training should be demand-driven and tailored to specific needs and circumstances. The sixteenth recommendation asked for establishing more than one Administrative Tribunal, especially in Dhaka, for expeditious redress of grievances and quick dispensation of justice for the government servants.
The PARC opined in the seventeenth recommendation that the government should adopt a forward-looking positive pay policy instead of making ad-hoc pay revisions from time to time. Wages and salaries should be linked to Cost of Living Index (CLI) to offset their erosion by inflation. A Pay research/adjustment cell should be created in the Ministry of Finance to adjust the salary to the cost of living index of the government employees on an annual basis.
The PARC made only two long-term recommendations on civil service reforms. The first advocated that quotas in case of all recruitments should be gradually abolished by providing equal opportunity to backward areas and disadvantaged groups. The second long-term recommendation opined that broad-band salary should be introduced on a pilot basis in order to make provision for different steps of pay at the entry level and to link increment with performance.
While looking back, it is found that the recommendations of the Public Administration Reform Commission are still very much relevant in the context of present-day Bangladesh. These can still be profitably implemented for streamlining bureaucracy in the country in order to ensure more transparency, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of public services. A reformed civil service can also be the most vital input in the materialisation process of Vision-2021 of the present Awami League-led Grand Alliance government.
Dr Helal Uddin Ahmed is a former editor of Bangladesh Quarterly. hahmed1960@gmail.com