Public admin reforms: ‘Capital city government’ for greater Dhaka

The Public Administration Reform Commission has proposed a "Capital City Government" for governing Dhaka city, Narayanganj, Keraniganj, Savar, and Tongi.

This government, similar to that of the federal government-controlled New Delhi, will have an elected legislature and local government.

The proposal was made considering the population and scope of services in the capital, according to the commission's report submitted to Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday.

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Reform commission proposes city government for Dhaka

It also proposed introducing a provincial governance system, by turning four older divisions into provinces, to decentralise the service delivery system for the country's large population.

"This will reduce the potential for power concentration by a unitary government and alleviate the pressure on Dhaka as well," said the report.

However, implementing such a system would require constitutional amendments.

Asked, a commission member told The Daily Star, "We are aware that this proposal may spark debates and criticisms. However, considering that local government has not been effective in the last 54 years, we believe a provincial system is the best approach to decentralisation."

A similar initiative was considered during the Ershad regime, but it was never implemented.

The commission recommended the creation of two new administrative divisions -- Faridpur and Cumilla -- alongside the existing eight.

Led by Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, the commission submitted its report with around 200 recommendations to the chief adviser at the state guesthouse Jamuna. The Judiciary Reform Commission, led by Justice Shah Abu Naeem Mominur Rahman, also handed over its report there.

The Public Administration Reform Commission recommended reducing the number of ministries to 25 from 43, categorising ministries into five clusters, abolishing district councils, eliminating the cadre services, introducing an examination system for promotion to deputy secretary, and implementing a senior executive service.

The commission suggested scrapping the interest-free car loan and car maintenance allowances worth Tk 50,000 for deputy secretaries and higher officials.

"This will remove discrimination and also reduce public expenditure," it said.

Officers of the ranks of deputy secretary and above currently get a loan of Tk 30 lakh to buy a car and a monthly allowance of Tk 50,000 to hire a driver and pay for the maintenance of the vehicle.

The commission recommended doing away with a legal provision that allows the government to force employees to retire after they have been on the job for 25 years or more.

It also recommended allowing officials to voluntarily retire after 15 years in service, instead of 25 years.

It recommended eliminating the police verification process for passport issuance to make the system more efficient and citizen-friendly.

The commission split its recommendations into short-term (six months), medium-term (one to two years), and long-term plans.

SHORT-TERM PLAN

According to the commission report, the number of ministries should be reduced to 25 from 43 and the divisions to 40 from 61. The ministries should be put in one of the five clusters: Administration; Finance, Industry, and Commerce; Infrastructure and Communication; Agriculture and Environment; Human Resources, and Social Development.

As part of the structural and procedural reform of the civil service, the commission suggested abolishing the existing 26 cadres of officials and replacing them with 13 services.

These are Administrative Service, Judicial Service, Public Security Service, Foreign Service, Accounts Service, Audit Service, Revenue Service, Engineering Service, Education Service, Health Service, Agricultural Service, Information Service, and ICT Service.

The commission suggested the establishment of two more public service commissions -- one for education and another for health. The recruitment and promotions of teachers and doctors would be done by these two commissions.

The existing Public Service Commission will deal with recruitment of officers of other services.

The reform commission put forward a guideline for officials' promotion to secretary and proposed abolishing the existing Superior Selection Board (SSB), which oversees their selection process, and forming a new committee led by a minister.

It proposed a provision under which the government could hire qualified individuals for positions in the upper tier of the bureaucracy.

The commission recommended abolishing the zila parishad, arguing that the chairmen of the parishads have never been directly elected by citizens and that most zila parishads lack strong revenue sources.

It suggested that the mayors of the municipalities be elected by elected members of the municipality instead of direct voting. The commission also recommended abolishing the post of vice chairmen (both male and female) of the upazila parishads.

The commission suggested appointing officials equivalent to the rank of senior assistant secretary as the "secretary" of upazila parishads and relieving the upazila nirbahi officers (UNOs) of upazila parishad duties.

It suggested renaming Deputy Commissioner (DC) to District Magistrate and District Commissioner, and UNOs to Sub-District Commissioner (SDC).

The commission recommended giving the District Magistrate the authority to accept complaints in criminal cases, subject to consultation with the Supreme Court, setting up magistrate courts at the upazila level, and appointing an ASP in every upazila.

It proposed transferring of the Land Registration Office to land ministry from the law ministry.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) could be divided into three separate entities -- Income Tax Department, Customs and Excise Department, VAT Department, the report said.

A proposal has also been made to merge the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA), the Economic Zones Authority, and the Export Promotion Bureau into a single organisation to streamline their operations.

To ensure greater accountability in public service delivery, the commission proposed forming "District Citizen Committees" and "Upazila Citizen Committees" that would be modelled after parliamentary standing committees.

These committees will review government services and hold meetings every four months to provide necessary recommendations to relevant authorities.

MID-TERM PLAN

The commission recommended forming a "Superior Executive Service" to allow officials from various services to be promoted to deputy secretary and thus be in the policy-making level.

Under this system, 50 percent of promotions to deputy secretary will be reserved for administrative service officials, while the remaining 50 percent will be open to officials from other services through exams.

Candidates failing the exam twice will no longer be eligible for promotion, said the commission.

Meanwhile, writer, researcher and former secretary AKM Abdul Awal Majumdar came down heavily on the recommendations.

"If these recommendations are implemented, the civil service will fall into such a pit that it may no longer be possible to pull it out," he told The Daily Star.

"The mistakes of 1972 have kept us in a hole to this day. This mistake will plunge us into an abyss. Nowhere in the world do we see a system like the one being proposed."

LONG-TERM PLAN

The commission suggested integrating the National Climate Change Strategy into government policy frameworks.

It recommended discouraging the introduction of honours programmes in private colleges and emphasised the need for monitoring private madrasas and enhancing their efficiency through investments.

It suggested recruiting adequate number of teachers.