Review body tenure extended

Ziaur Rahman | Published: March 25, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The government has extended the tenure of the secretarial committee, tasked with reviewing the proposed new pay scale, by one more month, official sources said.
The tenure of the committee expired on March 15.
On December 31 last year, the government formed the six-member secretarial committee, led by Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, to review the recommendations put forward by the National Pay Commission.
Apart from reviewing the pay hike proposals for government employees, the committee is looking into the pay hikes recommended for the armed forces.
Initially, the committee was given a six-week time to submit the report. But the committee could not finalise the report reportedly due to differences between the National Pay and Services Commission's (NPSC) recommendations and what the review committee has found. Later, the tenure of the committee was extended by four more weeks, but it also expired on March 15.
The cabinet secretary, however, is hopeful of completing the report within a month. "We are working in full swing and hope to complete the work within the stipulated period," he told the FE.
The Eighth National Pay and Service Commission (NPSC) led by former Bangladesh Bank governor Muhammad Farashuddin in December last recommended increasing salary for public servants by 100 per cent on average, full implementation of which would raise the government spending on salary and allowance by 63.7 per cent.
The commission suggested reducing the number of grades to 16 from existing 20. It also recommended lowest basic salary at Tk 8,200, up from Tk 4,100. The proposed maximum basic salary is Tk 80,000, up from existing Tk 40,000.
The highest salary of Tk 0.1 million (1.0 lakh) was recommended for the cabinet secretary and principal secretary to the Prime Minister; currently their basic monthly pay is Tk 45,000. The government plans to implement the new pay scale from July this year. Currently, there are over 832,000 government employees and around 500,000 pensioners in the country.
The commission also made several recommendations for civil service reforms. It suggested making the job tenure for voluntary retirement 20 years instead of 25 years. The secretarial committee has already held a dozen of meetings and reviewed the overall proposals and trying a striking balance between the proposals and the present situation.
When asked whether there will be any change in upper ceiling in the pay scale or any adjustment to the number of grades, the cabinet secretary refused to disclose anything about it. He, however, said they are working with all these nitty-gritty and can not say anything unless the overall review is completed.
According to sources, the secretarial committee is taking time mainly to deal with some 'controversial' issues such as deputations, contractual jobs, time scale and selection grades.
As the number of grades has been reduced to 16 from 20 in the salary structure, amendment to service rules is required, said the officials, adding that for this reason, it needs more time.
Finance Ministry sources said if the government implements the pay hike proposals made by the National Pay and Service Commission, expenditures would rise by 63.7 per cent, requiring an additional amount of Tk 229.53 billion.
Commission's chairman Mohammad Farashuddin had earlier said financing the additional amount of money would not be a problem, if only 1.0 per cent revenue growth could be ensured. But in the present political situation, many of the sources outside the government raise question about the sources of fund to meet the requirements.
But the government, according to sources, plans to implement the new pay scale from the next fiscal in phases. In the first year, the government plans to increase the basic salary while other allowances will be adjusted gradually. And initially, it will require about Tk 80-100 billion which, government sources said, could easily be mobilised by reducing the subsidies and cutting extra expenditures.
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