Keeping the provision of taking prior permission of the government or the recruiting authority for arresting a civil servant for their involvement in any criminal cases before submission of charge sheet, the Cabinet on Monday gave its nod to the draft of the "Civil Service Act, 2018 (Sarkari chakri Ain)". However, the authority would not need prior permission to arrest an accused civil servant after submission of the charge sheet (CS) against him or her in any case. The draft was given approval around 12 years after the government's initiative to enact a comprehensive law for the civil service. The draft was given final approval. It would be sent to the Parliament (Jatiya Sangsad) soon for passage, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told journalists after the Cabinet meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam briefed the media at the Secretariat. Replying to a query, Shafiul Alam claimed that the new provision would not hamper the activities of the independent Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). But, the authority will need some times to execute its decisions. "Under the provision of the new law, a civil servant will be suspended initially and lose his job finally, if he or she is given capital punishment or punishment of more than one year in jail for their offences. However, the authority will take departmental actions against them, in case of a punishment of below one year jail term," the Cabinet Secretary said. Shafiul Alam said the new law was framed amalgamating six existing laws of the civil service.
The laws are - Public Service Retirement Act, Services Reorganization Act, Public Service Special Provision Ordinance, 1979, Punctual Attendance Act 1982, Dismissal and Conviction Act 1985, Surplus Government Employees Accommodation Act. He said although there was a compulsion of enacting a law for the country's civil servants, none of the governments did it. The governments were controlling the civil servants issuing rules, policies and circulars. The present government has finally prepared the draft.
However, although the present government had taken several initiatives to finalise the draft law, it was not given clearance due to some lacking in the draft. "The Public Administration Ministry had submitted the draft law with 71 articles. It was so big. While the Cabinet gave its approval in principle, it asked the authorities concerned to reduce its size. Finally, the draft law was given approval with only 16 articles," the top bureaucrat added. According to sources, the PA Ministry formed a sub-committee led by Secondary and Higher Education Secretary Sohrab Hossain to review the draft following the recommendation of the meeting of the Secretarial Committee on Administrative Reforms held on December 5 in 2017. The sub-committee finalized the draft law holding five meetings. It submitted a report with 29 recommendations. In last April, the draft law was given approval by the Secretarial Committee on Administrative Reforms.
The Cabinet Secretary said that the draft law also suggested the government for recruitment in the civil service based on merit and open competition. All important aspects of the previous laws were brought together in the new law," he said, adding that the new law will replace the six existing laws. According to the new law, a government employee would get promotion based on merit, competence, seniority, training and satisfactory services.
As per law, the age limit for entry in the public service would be determined by the rules. The highest age limit of an employee for government job would be 59 years and 60 years for freedom fighters. Meanwhile, the Cabinet also gave final approval to the draft of the Infectious Diseases (Prevention, Control and Eradication) Act, 2018, identifying 23 diseases as infectious.
According to draft law, the government can declare any newly emerging or reemerging diseases as infectious, giving duties to the health department for their prevention, control and eradication by issuing gazette notification. The approval was given at the Cabinet meeting held on Monday at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam briefed media at the Secretariat. Shafiul Alam said the law also proposed for constituting a 13-member advisory committee headed by the Health Minister for monitoring the activities of the health department.
