61 District Council Administrators
Oath taking in limbo
The Local Government Division (LGD) yesterday sought legal advice from the law ministry on whether the just-appointed administrators to 61 district councils need to take oath before taking office.
"The administrators cannot enter office before we get an opinion from the law ministry on the matter," said an official of the LGD, a wing of the local government and rural development ministry.
He said according to Zila Parishad Act of 2000, chairmen of the zila parishads need to take oath before taking office. But the law does not say whether the administrators, who will perform the functions of the chairmen, are required to do the same.
"We'll take the next course of actions on receiving opinion from the law ministry," he told The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.
The LGRD and Cooperatives Ministry on Thursday appointed the district council administrators, all of whom are district-level Awami League leaders.
Members of civil society as well as the main opposition BNP termed the appointment "undemocratic and unconstitutional".
Once the administrators take office, the LGD will determine if the administrators will be given the status of deputy ministers, the LGD official said.
The administrator will get remuneration equal to that of the zila parishad chairman.
He said they would now ask the finance ministry to allocate Tk 200 crore, which they sought three months ago to purchase vehicles for the administrators and also to furnish their offices.
When his attention was drawn to the two administrators appointed to the recently-bifurcated Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), he said they did not take oath as they were government officials.
"But people who are appointed as administrators to the zila parishads are political persons," he added.
The LGD plans to assign the zila parishads with more jobs so the administrators can work for employment generation in the district level.
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