The government is set to finalise long-awaited promotions for senior bureaucrats, with elevation to the ranks of deputy secretary and additional secretary now in the final stages, according to sources at the Ministry of Public Administration.
Promotion orders for eligible senior assistant secretaries to deputy secretaries are expected by the last week of July. This will be followed by the promotion of joint secretaries to additional secretaries, likely in August, the sources said.
The Superior Selection Board (SSB), headed by Cabinet Secretary Sheikh Abdur Rashid, has already held several meetings to assess candidates’ service records, discipline, integrity, and family background.
More than 700 officers are currently under consideration. A few additional meetings are expected before final approval is granted.
Officials indicated that deputy secretary-level promotions are likely to be implemented within this month, while those to additional secretary will follow next month. The latest meeting of the SSB was held on July 8.
Officers from the 30th BCS batch, who joined service on June 3, 2012, became eligible for promotion to deputy secretary in June 2022. However, the process was delayed due to political changes, including the formation of the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus in August 2024.
In January this year, the Public Administration Ministry began collecting information for promotion assessments. Since then, the SSB has reviewed 319 officers from the 30th BCS (including 277 from the administration cadre), along with 223 officers from other cadres who applied through the DS Pool.
Based on performance evaluations, 250 to 280 officers are expected to be promoted in the first phase.
Meanwhile, officers from the 20th BCS batch are being considered for promotion to additional secretary. Although eligible since 2019, they were promoted to joint secretary in 2021, making them eligible for the next promotion in 2023. That long-delayed elevation now appears imminent.
Over 300 officers, including 244 from the administration cadre, are under consideration. However, 43 officers from the same batch who served as Deputy Commissioners under the previous government may be excluded from the final list, sources said.
At present, 370 officials are holding the rank of additional secretary, against 212 sanctioned posts. Similarly, there are 1,034 joint secretaries against only 502 approved positions.
For deputy secretaries, 1,402 officers are serving in 1,420 approved posts, including supernumerary ones. As such, the upcoming promotions may not lead to new postings but will elevate officers in their existing roles.
According to promotion rules, officials become eligible for promotion to deputy secretary after serving five years as senior assistant secretary and completing at least 10 years of government service. The 30th BCS officers met these criteria three years ago, but their promotions remained pending—until now.