Doubts cast over recruiting 200 more inspectors by Mar

Doubts cropped up about recruitment of additional 200 inspectors for the local apparel sector by the March deadline as part of the government's efforts to meet one key requirement before getting the GSP facility restored in the US market, sources said.
According to them, some formalities, including formulation of recruitment rules, still need to be done. A decision is also needed to be taken on whether the recruitment will be done by the labour ministry or the Public Service Commission (PSC).  
Sources said the new recruitment rules were yet to get the nod of the Ministry of Public Administration while the approval from the committee of secretaries and the PSC was also required.
On being vetted by the law ministry, the proposed recruitment rules would be sent to the President for the final approval, they mentioned.
If the government wants to make the recruitments by following the regular procedure, it will take a longer time.
On the other hand, labour ministry sources said they wanted the recruitments to be done by the PSC, as it would take less time compared to the regular process.
Earlier, the government on different occasions reiterated its commitment to complete the recruitment of 200 inspectors by March 30 under pressure from the international arena, especially from the US and the EU.
Appointment of the 200 inspectors is one of the key requirements that include implementation of the labour law, establishment of hotlines for workers, creation of a publicly-accessible database and ensuring export processing zones' conformity to international standards to get the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) restored in the US market and to retain the same benefit in the EU market.
On February 13, the foreign buyers from the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany and the EU in a meeting with foreign, commerce and labour secretaries pressed the government to meet the remaining requirements in line with the US Action Plan and Sustainability Compact by the March end.
They pressed for meeting the requirements by the end of March saying the US would review the GSP status in May while Bangladesh will submit its progress report by mid-April and also all the people across the globe including the international press, consumers and buyers of Bangladesh's apparel products want to know about developments in the garment sector ahead of the anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy.
"We are trying to recruit the 200 inspectors by March putting extra efforts as there are pressure from the US and the EU," Md Faizur Rahman, joint secretary of the labour ministry, told the FE Wednesday.
Sixty-five of the inspectors would be non-cadre class-one officials while the rest of them would class-two officials, he said adding they also want to complete the recruitment through the PSC to meet the deadline as the regular procedure will take a long time.
The Factories and Establishment Department under the labour ministry has been upgraded to a full-fledged directorate, which requires a new set of recruitment rules, according to another official involved with the process.
The official said no recruitment would be possible without the new recruitment rules due to an increase in the number of posts and the changes in their status.
"All are now depending on the new recruitment rules," he said.
Earlier on February 04, the recruitment rules were sent to the Public Administration Ministry for its approval, he said expecting to get its clearance within a couple of days.
BCS candidates compete for class-one jobs in the country's civil service, but the government wants to pick class-two officials from the interested ones.
A large number of candidates were coming out successful in all tests including viva-voce, but a handful of them were being selected for cadre service due to limited vacancies, he said adding the government wants to make the recruitments from among them.
Replying to a question, he expressed his hope that the PSC might be able to pick the required number of officials from among them, as they were remaining jobless at present.