Legal notice seeks scrapping of Public Service Act clause

A rights organisation yesterday served a legal notice on the government, requesting it to scrap in seven days the section of public service law which provides that a civil servant will not be dismissed from their job for a criminal offence unless they are sentenced to at least one year’s imprisonment.

Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) sent the legal notice to seven secretaries of the government, saying appropriate legal action will be taken if they fail to rescind Section 42 of the Public Service Act-2018 within seven days.

The organisation said in the legal notice that a gazette notification on the Public Service Act-2018 was issued on November 14 last year, incorporating Section 42 -- which says a civil servant will not be dismissed from the job for any criminal offence unless they are sentenced to at least one year’s imprisonment.

According to the Contempt of Court Act-1926 -- which is now in force -- a public servant is dismissed from service if they are sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.

 The maximum punishment under this law is six months’ imprisonment.

The government has formulated the Public Service Act-2018 incorporating Section 42 in order to damage the spirit of the contempt of court law, as the public servant will have no fear of losing their job under this law, the notice said.

Advocate Manzill Murshid, who sent the legal notice on behalf of the HRPB, told The Daily Star that there is no rule in the Contempt of Court Act-1926 for sentencing any person to more than six months, and a civil servant will not lose their job unless they are punished to at least one year’s imprisonment.

The Public Service Act-2018 has been formulated incorporating the Section 42 in order to give protection to civil servants from contempt of court charges, which is illegal and unconstitutional, he said.

Manzill Murshid said he will move a writ petition before the High Court for necessary action if authorities concerned of the government do not respond to the legal notice and scrap Section 42 of the law in seven days.

The legal notice has been sent to the secretaries to the offices of the president and prime minister, the cabinet, and public administration ministry, two divisions of the law ministry, and the Jatiya Sangsad secretariat.