The interim government of Bangladesh has amended the Public Service Ordinance 2018, leading to protests. According to multiple sources, government employees carried out protests in the Bangladesh Secretariat in Dhaka for several days. After the talks with the high authority, the protesters canceled their protests for now. While the interim government says that the 2025 Public Service (Amendment) Ordinance has more scope to discipline unruly public officials, the protesters demand its complete cancellation. The protesters have withdrawn protests for now after talking with the government. But it remains uncertain how much the changes are justified and whether the protesters will cancel further protests in the days ahead.
It is vital to secure transparency and accountability among government employees in Bangladesh and to make sure that they provide public services promptly, without corruption and bribery. Notably, government officials — even if they are involved with corruption and other forms of crimes — encounter deserving punishment less including dismissals from their jobs because of political, bureaucratic and other reasons in Bangladesh. For this, measures for ensuring the quick punishment of those government employees involved with corruption or other forms of crimes will be helpful. The multi-stage framework for disciplining civil servants provided in the Public Service Act 2018 makes it complex and difficult to bring those government officials who abuse power and violate their codes of conduct to justice.
The 2025 amendment has put emphasis on quick justice, positively saying. But it also focuses on insubordination or disciplinary actions against various activities such as disrupting workplace discipline, obstructing duties, unauthorized absence and inciting collective leave which do not seem much relevant to eliminate irregularities, corruption, and negligence among government employees. Among others, these can increase the chance of arbitrary use of the law against employees by superiors because of several reasons including political motivation, which is remarkably present in Bangladesh. There remains no guarantee that future governments will not misuse the law to realize political goals, leading to a more politicization of the government institutions in Bangladesh.
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The protesters are likely to carry out further protests against the 2025 amendment, which they say unconstitutional and black law and which includes complex processes of post-dismissal appeals. They have by this time hinted so. Due to the continued protests of government employees, the situation can worsen, increasing the chance of political turmoil in the days ahead. The possibility of it is very high when the troublesome relations of the Interim government are increasing with several parties including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party over the time of elections and several other issues.
Quick justice against government officials is desired. But the amendment needs to put emphasis on addressing irregularities, corruption and negligence among government officials. Consequently, addressing the concerns of repressive provisions is vital. The positive side is that the government held talks with protesters and is interested in further talks. The protesting government employees also want to talk to the interim government — increasing the chance of addressing the concerns and reaching a solution to the problem created after the amendment through talks.
The amendment of the 2018 Public Service Act can address the delayed process of justice against government officials, who mostly remain outside of it in Bangladesh, despite various relevant laws. But any amendment that seeks quick punishment needs to ensure that it does not intend to repress government employees and lead to its misuse and includes employee-friendly post-dismissal rights to defend.
Amir M Sayem
Chief Editor
Dhaka Opinion Magazine
