Civil servants

It refers to a news item and an editorial by The Daily Star that the government is considering administrative actions against the civil servants who are performing poorly and using red tape for financial gains. The wheels of the bureaucracy are grinding to a standstill. Many of them do not work sincerely. They are more interested in using their positions for personal gains.
The perception about Bangladesh's bureaucrats has not really changed much, despite a number of initiatives being taken to make Bangladesh's bureaucracy as effective, efficient, responsible and reliable for government's administrative functions, election pledges of the ruling party to voters and to make common good to citizens. Whether Bangladesh's bureaucracy has improved or deteriorated has given a fractured verdict by media and readers.
Most of the high profiled bureaucrats seem still accustomed to being under military rule, and they do not have any regard for democratic norms and values. They have somehow developed cosy ties with some individuals close to the prime minister's office, think they are above everything.
No wonder, the word 'bureaucracy' is still used as synonym to talk about procedural delays. In fact, the extra - large size of Bangladesh's bureaucracy, non existence of performance - linked incentives, political interference and complex nature of problems in Bangladesh have stopped Bangladesh's bureaucracy emerging as a performing bureaucracy.
Time has come to decide that in order to restore probity in public life, it is essential to focus on corruption in the top echelons of administration. The most effective way to do so is by focusing on 'outcome' of poor performance in service, corruption (movable and immovable assets of public servants) rather than 'process' of corruption, i.e. flouting of government orders, rules etc. It is felt that existing anti-corruption institutions have failed to effectively nail the corrupt public servants as it is very difficult to prove wrong doing through perusal of files and file notes. It will be easier to prove accumulation of assets (both movable and immovable) disproportionate to one's known sources of income. Moreover, an Integrity Commission could be set up by government of Bangladesh at the national level. The Integrity Commission can adopt the simple method of verification by first making public the returns filed by the concerned public servants and then inviting the public to come out with whatever information they have regarding the assets possessed by the concerned individual. Property returns of all public servants who occupied or are occupying high public office in government need to be verified in a “fast track manner”. The Commission can also make discreet enquiries before making its findings public. All investigating agencies of the government like the DGFI, CID, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Economic Offences Wing, Intelligence Bureau, etc. can provide assistance to the Integrity Commission.