Govt seeks amendment to Public Service Act to extend coverage

The Public Service (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was placed in parliament on Tuesday proposing a mandatory measure for the autonomous, legislative and local government bodies to take clearance from the Finance Division over financial expenditures.

State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain tabled the proposed legislation and it was sent to the respective scrutiny committee for further examination. The committee was asked to submit its report within 30 days.

In the existing Public Service Act, 2018, the Finance Division has authority over the financial matters of the government entities, officials and employees, but it was not clear what would be the involvement of the Finance Division regarding the autonomous, legislative and local government bodies.

The public universities, the Election Commission, or local bodies like city corporations and union parishads will have to take opinions of the Finance Division over their financial expenditures.

It had been mandatory too for the autonomous, legislative and local government bodies to take clearance from the Finance Division before, but the enactment of the existing law in 2018 made it unclear.