Govt promotes 193 officials to joint secretaries

The government has promoted 193 deputy secretaries and officials of equivalent ranks to joint secretaries despite having no permanent posts for them, reports bdnews24.com.

They were attached to the public administration ministry as officers on special duty on Thursday as part of the procedure.

The number of joint secretaries now stands at 842, whereas the number of permanent posts is only 430, according to public administration ministry officials.

Officials from the 13th BCS batch and those left out from previous batches were elevated.

This is the fifth time that the ministry announced promotions on a massive scale during the Hasina-led administration, said a top official of the public administration ministry.

More officers will be promoted to deputy secretaries soon, he added.

On December 11, the government promoted 128 joint secretaries to additional secretaries.

The ministry had prepared a list of names for promotions after multiple meetings with the Superior Selection Board (SSB) headed by the cabinet secretary. Last month, it sent the list to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her approval.

The premier sent back the list with observations. The SSB held another meeting to finalise the list.

Hasina approved the list on Thursday night. "The order was issued the same night to avoid a delay for the weekend," said a senior government official.