ACC going in EPR mode to cause havoc

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The Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) chairman yesterday said arbitrary filing of corruption case by the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) would demoralise the bureaucrats and have negative impact on the economy.

Meanwhile, the Public Service Commission (PSC) chairman said this would create havoc since the ACC is losing cases in courts which would result in the release of corruption suspects.

“The Anti-corruption Commission would have been in a favourable position if it had dealt its cases under existing laws instead of Emergency Power Rules (EPR),” said Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) Chairman Akbar Ali Khan.

The observations came at the launching ceremony of two policy notes on governance of ACC and PSC prepared by Institute of Governance Studies (IGS) of Brac University. The launching of the policy notes was held at a city hotel.

“The ACC started dealing cases under emergency rules but emergency will not remain for long. The ACC therefore will be in serious problems during the transition period,” former adviser to a caretaker government Akbar Ali said.

Asked if the ACC now should transfer its cases from the EPR to existing laws, he told journalists after the launching programme that the cases are now under trial and it will not be right to make comments on it.

It will demoralise the bureaucrats and have negative impact on economy if ACC acts as a prosecution agency, instead of a quasi-judiciary institution, Akbar Ali said suggesting it to analyse everything critically before filing cases.

There might be some irregularities in making immediate decisions because no bureaucrat can be cent percent correct, the former secretary said. Therefore, departmental actions can be taken against them instead of filing cases in courts, he said.

Stating that the ACC’s inclusion of staff from the now-defunct Bureau of Anti- Corruption was not a wise decision, he suggested creating two divisions–one run by old employees dealing old cases and another by new employees dealing new cases.

There is a lot of work in the ACC but it is lacking adequate staff, Akbar Ali said. “It is indeed going through a very difficult time. The ACC should be established as a strong organisation,” he said.

The RRC chairman observed that the PSC should not be under the control of the government or any institutions and the examination system should be reviewed. He said the present recruitment system does not make sure that good public servants are placed appropriately.

He said the transparency of PSC is now much less than that of the British period when anyone was able to know the results of their examinations in details, but it is not possible now.

Akbar Ali Khan said cadre-based separate examinations should be arranged to ensure the qualities the PSC want in candidates are there.

Public Service Commission (PSC) Chairman Saadat Hussain said the staff of the Bureau of Anti-Corruption who are now working in the ACC are harassing people with their old mindset.

“It will create havoc. It is losing many cases and many corruption suspects will be released,” he said adding that the cases should not be filed arbitrarily, rather critically analysed first.

Saadat said they were considering hiring foreign experts to bring changes in the examination process for recruiting public servants.

He said the PSC was actually never independent.

IGS researches recommended establishment of a transparent process for recruiting public servants, raising the status of PSC members and chairman, formation of a parliamentary committee to review PSC performance annually, complete overhaul of present examination system and a study to see if the quota system in recruitment is needed.

Its recommendations on the ACC include explicitly defining corruption and offences that fall under the jurisdiction of the ACC, merit-based recruitment and extending the tenure of ACC commissioners and direct recruitment of staff and lawyers.

Brac University Pro Vice-chancellor Salehuddin Ahmed and IGS Director barrister Manzoor Hasan also spoke at the programme.

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