Swadhinata Award: Govt revises rules after ‘award error’

In order to allow the authorities to confer the Swadhinata Award on late physician and social activist Zafrullah Chowdhury for a second time posthumously, the government yesterday amended the guidelines governing the country’s highest civilian honour.

Last Thursday, the government announced the recipients of this year’s Swadhinata Award. The list included Zafrullah under the “Social Service/Public Service” category.

He had previously received the award in 1977 for his contribution to “Population Control”.

Before yesterday’s amendment, an individual or organisation was not eligible to receive the award more than once.

The revised Guidelines Regarding the Swadhinata Award now allow an individual or institution to receive the honour again after a 25-year interval.

The Cabinet Division formalised the decision through an office memo.

While prominent citizens described the move as unprecedented, officials said the amendment was made to legalise a mistake.

Researcher and former secretary Abdul Awal Mazumder told The Daily Star, “Those who take such decisions just to justify their own mistakes are harmful to the state.”

Four officials from the Cabinet Division and the Ministry of Public Administration expressed frustration over the move.

“Taking a controversial decision just to justify an error is unwise,” one of them said.

Another official added, “Amending the rules instead of correcting the mistake will set a bad precedent.”

Asked for comment, Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani said the government has the authority to take such decisions.

Responding to a question on whether amending the rules instead of correcting the mistake could be controversial, Gani said, “There is no room for controversy here. The government decided to allow the award in a different category after 25 years for exceptional contributions.”