The Election Commission (EC) has requested Public Administration Ministry to declare January 7 as a general holiday on occasion of the 12th Parliamentary Election. "As the 12th national election is scheduled to be held on January 7, it is necessary to declare the day as a general holiday," said a release signed by Deputy Secretary of Election Management Atier Rahman. Election Commission begins scrutiny of nomination papers The letter also sought directives to take necessary steps for declaring January 7 as a general holiday. Earlier, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal announced that the 12th parliamentary election of the country will be held on January 7. Election Commission issues show cause notice to Shakib Al Hasan The CEC came up with the announcement for the next election schedule while addressing the nation on November 15. According to the constitution, the tenure of the current government will end on January 29, 2024. No pressure on Election Commission from Western countries: Ahsan Habib

Senior secretary to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division Md Mahbub Hossain has been appointed as the new Cabinet Secretary. The Public Administration Ministry issued a notification in this regard on Tuesday (January 03, 2023). Read More: Visiting foreign personalities to become Bangladesh’s goodwill envoys, ministry hopes Meanwhile, Dr. Md. Khairuzzaman Mozumder, additional secretary to the Finance Division, has been made secretary to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said another notification of the ministry.

The government has extended the tenure of Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen by two more years under a contractual appointment effective from December 6, 2022 or from the date of his joining. The Public Administration Ministry issued a gazette notification on Wednesday regarding his contractual appointment as Senior Secretary of the government. Read more: COP27: Bangladesh urges developed nations to double provision of adaptation finance by 2025 Masud joined as Foreign Secretary on 31 December 2019. As a career diplomat, he has long been serving in different capacities at the Headquarters and Bangladesh’s Missions abroad.  Prior to his appointment as the Foreign Secretary, he had been Bangladesh’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations since 2015. Before that, he served as Bangladesh’s Ambassador to Japan from 2012 to 2015. Read more: Energy supply to Bangladesh: Turkey will be “more than happy” to be a transit country, says ambassador He also served as Ambassador to Italy and Permanent Representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP) and International Fund for Agricultural Development from 2008 to 2012. Masud served at the Headquarters in different capacities. From 2006 to 2008, he was the Director-General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dhaka and was responsible for matters related to South Asia, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Human Rights and the United Nations.

The Public Administration Ministry has scrapped a list of 1,447 books selected for promoting ‘knowledge and reading habit’ of government officials amid a storm of controversy over the inclusion of 29 books only of an additional secretary. Senior Secretary of the ministry KM Ali Azam confirmed the cancellation of the list on Monday. The additional secretary in question is Md Nabirul Islam of the ministry. Ali Azam said a committee will be formed to select a new list for this purpose. Also read: Environment Ministry to withdraw case against Hawa upon 'agreement' The senior secretary said, choosing books from thousands of publications is a sensitive issue. “Within a week we will provide the committee topics like history, literature, poems and the committee will fill up the list with appropriate books. The committee will review the process to recommend books.” he said. He said a decision was taken by the ministry to build libraries in the offices of Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and Upazila Nirbahi Officers with small allocations in the next four years to boost knowledge of the officials. Also read: Religious affairs ministry to launch Tk25 crore programme to promote communal harmony “For this purpose, a list of 1400 books was prepared by this office but it was not made mandatory to follow the list. The ministry has asked to buy books in the light of that list,” he added. Ali Azam also said that the allocation for upazila level is 1.5 lakhs, 2 lakhs at district level and 3 lakhs at divisional level.

Zahid Hossain, director (additional secretary) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, has been appointed as its managing director. The Public Administration Ministry issued a notification in this regard on Wednesday. Read: Three Biman officials suspended over plane collision incident Meanwhile, immediate past Biman MD Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal has been made Director General (DG) of Social Welfare department. Besides, Rangpur Divisional Commissioner (Addl Secretary) Md Abdul Wahab Bhuiyan has been made DG of Narcotics Control Department, reads the notification.

The government has appointed new deputy commissioners to 13 districts. The Public Administration Ministry issued a gazette notification in this regard on Wednesday. As per the notification, Director (deputy secretary) of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Anisur Rahman has been made DC of Gazipur while Chapainawabganj DC Md Manjurul Haque made DC of Narayanganj, Personal Secretary to State Minister for Education Md Shahgir Alam appointed DC of Brahmanbaria  and Public Administration Ministry’s Deputy Secretary Khalid Mehedi Hasan made DC of Naogaon. Read: Reshuffle in DMP once again: 8 OCs transferred Besides, Deputy Project Director of Ashrayan project(Deputy Secy) Mohammad Zahidur Rahman has been made DC of Pirojpur, Deputy Secretary of Public Administration Ministry Abu Kaisar Khan made DC of Rajbari, Home Minister’s personal secretary(Deputy secy) Dewan Mahbubur Rahman made DC of Noakhali and Deputy Secretary of Cabinet Division Aminul Islam made DC of  Chuadanga. Meanwhile, Public Administration ministry’s deputy secretary Nafisa Arefin has been appointed as DC of Nilphamari, Public Administration Ministry’s Deputy Secretary Md Oliur Rahman made DC of Gaibandha, Md Mojibur Rahman, who was serving as DC of Jhenaidah, made DC of Sylhet, Public Administration Ministry’s Deputy Secretary of Public Administration Ministry Monira Begum made DC of Jhenaidah and Deputy Director (Deputy Secretary) of Mymensingh DC office AKM Galiv Khan has been made the new DC of Chapainawabganj.

The government has promoted five grade-1 government officials to the rank of secretary. The Public Administration Ministry issued a notification in this regard on Thursday. According to the notification, Dr Amitabh Sarker, Chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) has been made Chairman (Secretary) of Land Appeal Board while Dr Shahnaz Arefin, Additional Secretary of cabinet Division was made the Secretary of Statistics and Information Division. Read: Five officials promoted to secretaries Besides, Abu Hena Morshed Zaman Director (Additional Secretary) of Central Medical Stores Depot (CMSD) was made the Secretary of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division and Md Khalilur Rahman, Divisional Commissioner (Additional Secretary) Dhaka was made Secretary of Post and Telecommunication Division. The notification said, Kazi Enamul Hasan, Additional Secretary of Economic Relations Division was made the Secretary of Ministry of Religious Affairs and Suleman Khan Additional Secretary of Commerce Ministry was made Chairman ( Secretary) of Land Reforms Board. The order will come into effect soon.

  The government has rescheduled the public holiday for the upcoming Shab-e-Barat to March 30 instead of March 29. The Public Administration Ministry issued a notification in this regard on Tuesday. The date was changed as the holiday for the religious event is fixed considering the sighting of the new moon. Also read: Shab-e-Barat to be observed on March 29 Earlier on March 14, the National Moon Sighting Committee decided to observe the Shab-e-Barat on the night of March 29 as the Shaban moon was not sighted in the country on that day. The announcement was made after analysing data collected from the district administrations, Islamic Foundation, Bangladesh Meteorological Department, and Space Research and Remote Sensing Institute. Shab-e-Barat is observed on the 15th night of the Arabic month of Shaban. Muslims offer special prayers, recite the Quran, and take part in other religious rituals.

The government has appointed new deputy commissioners to nine districts.

The government has promoted five additional secretaries to the rank of secretary.