In complete violation of electoral laws and regulations, a former senior secretary at the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s Office and chairman of the chairman of Biman Bangladesh’s Board of Directors in January 2020 has been nominated on an Awami League ticket even as he does not fulfill the mandatory three-year “cooling off” period since his superannuation.
In a significant judgment today, the Bangladesh High Court ruled that no government employee can run for election if they have not waited for a mandatory three-year ‘cooling off’ period.
Born on January 1, 1961, Sajjadul Hassan served in various capacities as a bureaucrat and steadily rose up the ranks before being appointed as senior secretary at the PMO on December 25, 2019.
A Bangladesh Administrative Service (BAS) officer of the 1985 batch, Hassan retired from the civil service while in the capacity as senior secretary at the PMO on January 10, 2020.
Hassan ‘won’ the Netrakona-4 constituency in an uncontested byelection held in July this year.
At the end of his tenure, Hassan was appointed chairman of Biman Bangladesh’s Board of Directors on January 27, 2020 by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism. While serving in this position, Hassan took decisions to retain government control over Biman Bangladesh.
Hassan completed his term at Biman Bangladesh in January 2023, following which he had to serve a compulsory one-year post retirement leave (PLA) period with full salary.
Hassan was picked by the Awami League to contest the Netrokona-4 constituency where other party hopefuls also threw in their hats in the electoral ring. Following the release of the official list of 298 nominees, the Awami League allowed “dummy candidates” to also contest the elections which are scheduled to be held on January 7.
The nomination papers of several popular and winnable Awami League leaders have been rejected or cancelled across numerous constituencies although about 400 “dummy candidates” continue to be in the electoral fray.
“The move to reject the nomination papers of winnable candidates is to pave the way for victory of those who are favoured by Sheikh Hasina,” a senior Awami League leader said on the condition of anonymity.
This is the first time that Hassan has been given an Awami League ticket to contest the general elections following the July 2023 uncontested polls that he ‘won’. But Article 12(1) of the Representation of the People Order (RPO) 1972 disqualifies former public servants from contesting national elections in three years of their resignation or retirement from service.
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The RPO rule states clearly that “a person shall be disqualified for election as or for being, a member, if he… has resigned or retired from the service of the republic or of any statutory public authority or of the defence service, unless a period of three years has elapsed since the date of his resignation or retirement”. This rule is also applicable to officials who are appointed on contractual terms.
A cooling off period is said to be applicable after an official retires or resigns from service to avoid chances of conflict of interests and to prevent influence peddling by external individuals.
More importantly, this period helps assures the general public that the official continues to be accountable and his integrity remains above suspicion. The cooling off period provision also helps prevent the leakage of sensitive information that a retired officer carries with him while in service.
Significantly, the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC), which should have moved swiftly to disqualify Hassan after he submitted his nomination papers, has chosen to overlook the fact that his cooling off period is yet to end.
Speaking to Northeast News, a former BEC member said that “acceptance of Hassan’s nomination papers is certainly a violation of RPO’s provisions. He does not stand to be qualified to contest the elections and his papers must be rejected forthwith by the BEC”.
