The ACC, created in 2004, screened 743 former employees of the now-defunct bureau last year and sought government clearance for its organisational structure with 1,376 posts.

But in May, the government unilaterally finalised an organogram of 650 posts and by June the National Implementation Committee on Administrative Reforms (Nicar), chaired by the prime minister, approved it.

The 743 former Bac officials have been drawing salaries from the ACC ever since their screening. But with the approval of the new structure, the ACC now does not know what to do with these unaccommodated Bac employees.

The ACC received the papers on the new organogram on July 4 but it could not make a single appointment under the new structure as of yesterday due to this problem. "We have held four to five meetings discussing how we can resolve this crisis but found no solution," said an ACC official.

"The approved structure does not allow any appointment from the 743 [former Bac] staff to more than 100 top posts," he said, adding, "We will have to fill these posts either by fresh appointments or by bringing officials from the administration on deputation.

"The same problem persists for 100 such posts at the mid-level," he said.

Besides, the ACC does not have any rule for appointments. It had drafted a set of appointment rules and forwarded it to the president through the government for approval, but the government returned it earlier this year, asking the ACC to revise it.

Meanwhile, a chaotic situation is prevailing at the ACC due to the new structure. According to the government-approved organogram, the ACC has 76 posts of assistant director for which it screened 33 former Bac officials. Now the ACC will have to recruit 43 more to fill the posts.

The ACC screened 65 officials for the post of assistant inspector. But the new structure has only two assistant inspectors and 28 field officers with similar status, which has left the commission with 35 surplus officials.

Similarly, the ACC screened 318 constables, but the new structure has only 108 posts for them. Ironically, these constables, who enjoyed the rank of third class employees at the Bac, have now been demoted to the rank of fourth class employees.

The salary structure of assistant inspector and field officer in the new organogram is between Tk 3,500 and Tk 7,500 whereas the officers of the same rank had a salary structure of Tk 3,700-8,060 at the Bac.

"The government service cannot have demotion. Then, how are we going to appoint people by demoting them salary- or status-wise?" said an ACC official.

With the organogram, the last ray of hope of the ACC officials to see the commission function properly in the near future has vanished.

The ACC is also facing a High Court stay order on its screening of the 743 Bac officials. Sources said the ACC will move to vacate the stay order.

"We are considering writing a letter to the Cabinet Division urging it to amend the approved structure," said ACC Chairman Justice Sultan Hossain Khan.

"We wish to retain all 743 officials selected. Until the structure is amended, we will ask the government to allow the ACC retain the staffs who do not fit in as a temporary solution," he added.

The Cabinet Division notification on the new structure suggested that the ACC can gradually increase its manpower, but initially, it should run with 650 posts and gather experience.