Bangladesh News

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is going to issue the much-awaited circular for the 28th BCS examinations with new recruitment rules after two and a half years.

The PSC has taken all preparations for the largest public service examinations for 1,720 posts in 14 general and 13 technical-professional cadres, sources said.

The circular is likely to be published in all national dailies within two to three weeks, the sources added.

PSC member Mohammad Ashraf has been made the chairman of the 28th BCS (Bangladesh Civil Service), while necessary papers including application and ISF forms have already been published, said the sources.

“The establishment ministry is amending a number of sections of the BCS Recruitment Rule following our recommendations. We’ll try to publish the circular of 28th BCS as early as possible after receiving the gazette of the new rule,” Ashraf told The Daily Star.

He said candidates would be given 45 days to collect and submit application forms from the date of issuing the circular.

All examinations — preliminary MCQ test, written examinations and viva voce — will be held under the new BCS recruitment rules, he added.

The PSC last invited applications on June 28, 2005 for the 27th BCS examinations and its viva voce is now being held afresh.

The candidates have so far waited about two and a half years for the new BCS, although PSC had issued the last three circulars in 16 months.

The PSC issued circulars for 27th BCS examinations on June 28 in 2005, for 26th (special) BCS on August 29, 2004 and for 25th BCS examinations on February 28, 2004.

The commission is now busy holding the cancelled viva voce of the controversial 27th BCS examinations and reforming itself and the pattern of examinations.

PCS sources claimed the ongoing viva and reforms are the main reasons behind the delay.

Establishment Secretary Abdus Salam Khan said the draft proposal of the BCS recruitment rules has been finalised and will be sent very soon to the secretary committee for approval.

“Once approved, it’ll go to the law ministry for checking and the law ministry sends it to the chief adviser and the president for approval. All the procedures will hopefully be completed soon,” he told The Daily Star.

He also said the establishment ministry would ask the PSC to issue the circular of 28th BCS exams after approval of the BCS recruitment rules because application selection process and examinations would be held under the new rules.

NEW RECRUITMENT RULES
According to the draft of the BCS recruitment rules, several changes are being made in the fields of application form selection, preliminary test, written examinations, viva voce and appointment of selected candidates.

Applications of the candidates will be selected in four phases so that application forms are not cancelled due to minor mistakes like before.

Firstly, a deputy director will supervise the selection process, secondly a director, thirdly a member and finally the PSC chairman will justify the application forms.

Previously, PSC employees verified the application forms and used to cancel many for minor mistakes, PSC sources said.

In the application forms, the name spelling of applicants, parents and others will be considered according to those in Secondary School Certificate (SSC) certificates. No applications will be cancelled whether the words ‘late’ or ‘designations of freedom fighters’ are mentioned or not before parents’ names, establishment sources said.

Telephone or cellphone numbers cannot be mentioned in the application forms with a view to stopping graft. There are allegations that some dishonest PSC employees used to communicate with candidates using the cellphone or land phone numbers.

Written examinations must be held even if the number of applicants is less than the vacant posts. Previously, no written test was held if the number of applications was less than 100. Besides, the bank draft can only be taken from only PSC-selected banks.

Mentioning the proposed recruitment rules, establishment sources said marks would be curtailed in the MCQ (multiple choice question) preliminary test for wrong answers.

For the viva voce, expert boards will be comprised of editors of the newspapers, bureaucrats, teachers of public and privates universities and heads of corporate organisations. The editor or chief of corporate house will have to have minimum 15 years experience and master’s degree, sources said.

PSC sources expressed the hope after taking these measures irregularities and corruption can be checked and the commission will regain public confidence and transparency.