Pay commission meeting fixes tentative timeline for submitting pay scale recommendations

A tentative timeline for submitting the report on the ninth pay scale for government officers and employees has been fixed in a closed-door meeting of the pay commission. On Wednesday (17 December), the pay commission planned this in the meeting held. The meeting, which started at 3 pm, continued till 8 pm. It is learnt that several draft decisions were taken in the meeting.

The meeting was chaired by Pay Commission Chairman Zakir Ahmed Khan and attended by commission members Dr. Mohammad Ali Khan, Md. Fazlul Karim, Md. Moslem Uddin, Member Secretary Md. Farhad Siddique along with part-time members and officials of the commission.

From meeting sources, it is learnt that extensive discussions were held on the draft prepared by the commission in the full commission meeting. Decisions were taken to bring amendments on some issues and hold another full commission meeting later. At least three more full commission meetings will be held before submitting the commission's report, it is learnt.

According to sources, the pay commission will hold two more meetings in the current December month. Thereafter, plans have been made to organise another meeting in early January. After that meeting, the commission has fixed the tentative time for submitting their report in the first or second week of January.

On condition of anonymity, a member of the pay commission present in the meeting told The Daily Campus that the pay scale recommendations will be implemented in three phases. In the first phase, the pay commission will submit their report. In the second phase, it will go to the secretaries committee.

He said after approval from the secretaries committee, it will be sent to the council of advisers. The council of advisers will take the final decision on the commission's report. Thereafter, a gazette in this regard will be issued. The commission has planned to submit the report around the first week of January next year.

In response to a question on what recommendations have been made regarding the number of grades and salary in the draft prepared by the commission, the member said, ‘The commission has prepared a draft. But it is not yet finalised. It will not be appropriate to comment on salary and grades until it is finalised. However, no exaggerated recommendations will be made. Realistic recommendations will be made.’

It is learnt that the National Pay Commission is meticulously analysing opinions received from various organisations and associations regarding the ninth pay scale. However, the commission has said the full report writing work has not yet been possible. On Monday, a source from the commission told The Daily Campus that they are not disturbed by the recent grand rally of employees or the tough programmes from Wednesday.

Meanwhile, although warnings of tough movement have been given, leaders of various organisations agitating for pay scale are somewhat fearful due to the recent suppression process of agitators inside the secretariat and the government decision following the movement of government primary school teachers. For this reason, they are not going towards tough programmes for now. They are rethinking programmes in light of government decisions and statements from the chief adviser's press secretary.

President of Bangladesh Government Employees Development Council Ziaul Haque told The Daily Campus, ‘Of course we will present demands, but not all demands are realised through street agitation. In this case, we want to realise pay scale demands through discussion. Besides, outside employees are angry with secretariat employees due to the recent unpleasant incident inside the secretariat. Decisions will be taken considering all matters.’

General Secretary of Bangladesh Government Employees Coordination Council Bellal Hossain told The Daily Campus, ‘We have given a letter seeking a meeting with Finance Adviser Saleh Ahmed. We are waiting to meet him. On Thursday (18 December), we will sit in discussion with the Demand Realisation United Council. New programmes will be announced based on that discussion.’

Spokesperson of Bangladesh Government Employees Demand Realisation United Council Warech Ali has said no programme outside government service rules and discipline will be given. He told The Daily Campus, ‘As employees of the republic, we cannot give programmes as we wish. We will give programmes staying within service rules and discipline. No programme outside rules will be given.’

For context, the interim government formed the commission in July last to formulate a new salary structure for government employees. The commission has a six-month obligation to submit recommendations. However, employees demand that the gazette for the new pay scale be published by 15 December.