The government is moving to amend the recently issued ordinance that split the National Board of Revenue (NBR) into two separate divisions — Revenue Policy and Revenue Administration — with a view to eliminating the dominance of any particular cadre, Energy Adviser Muhammad Fauzul Kabir Khan said on Sunday.
Speaking at a press briefing at the Power Division in Dhaka, the adviser admitted that the ordinance had been formulated with “clever tactics” and would now be revised to ensure that neither the administration cadre nor the customs and tax cadre could hold sway over these two key divisions.
“There will be no cadre dominance in revenue services going forward,” Fauzul Kabir Khan told reporters.
“The ordinance will be corrected. Secretaries and senior officials will be appointed based on clearly defined qualifications. Both administration and customs-tax cadres will be treated equally.”
The Energy Adviser, who heads a government committee tasked with reviewing the reform, said protests by NBR officials erupted after the ordinance was hastily issued on May 12, splitting the NBR into the two divisions. The move sparked a months-long standoff between officials from different cadres.
“This ordinance has some fundamental flaws,” he said. “For example, it says an ‘appropriate person’ will be appointed secretary of the Revenue Policy Division. But who is this appropriate person — Abul Barkat? Such ambiguities must be addressed.”
Fauzul Kabir Khan further said that the NBR as an institution has lost public trust over the years. “People laugh when they hear the name NBR. It’s better that this name disappears,” he remarked.
Responding to a question, the adviser admitted there had been mistakes in the reform process and said the government had formed a five-member committee to fix the issues. “Everyone makes mistakes, and so did we. That’s why we are correcting it now.”
He dismissed allegations that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had been used to pressure protesting NBR officials, saying the ACC’s actions were part of an ongoing process unrelated to the dispute.
“NBR officials have lost the government’s trust through their actions. They must now focus on increasing revenue collection to rebuild that trust,” he said.
When asked whether officials were being reassured, he said, “They are not children. They were assured at the beginning, but they still staged protests for two months. This isn’t Katunganj’s warehouse. Their protests have harmed businesses — who will compensate for that?”
The adviser also said that NBR staff had actively obstructed revenue collection and even taken positions against the government in the name of protests.
“The government has shown tremendous patience,” he noted.
Khan said the committee would soon visit field-level offices to assess the current pace of revenue collection and the quality of services being delivered.