Law amendment on cards to extend BB governor's tenure

The government is going to extend the tenure of Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Fazle Kabir by two more years by amending the Bangladesh Bank Order.  The contractual appointment of the governor is valid until he reaches the age limit of 65 which will be on July 3 this year. The BB order is therefore being amended to allow the governor to continue office until he is 67. It has been learnt that a circular in this regard will be issued very soon.

Fazle, a former secretary to the Bangladesh government, joined as the 11th governor of the central bank on March 20, 2016. His tenure would have ended on March 20 this year. But on the 16th of February, the government approved the contractual appointment of the governor until he reaches the age limit for retirement at 65.

The BB was formed through President's Order No. 127 of 1972. The Bangladesh Bank Order that was amended and brought corrections to in several phases was made statutory in 10 March 2003 and it read the governor will be appointed by the government for tenure of 4 years and is eligible for re-appointment provided that the governor shall not hold office beyond the age of 65 years. M Nurul Islam was the longest serving governor of the BB, serving the bank for eleven years. Dr Atiur Rahman followed him and served the bank for seven years.

Currently, the age limit for entry into government jobs is 30 years while the retirement age is 59 years. The retirement age for freedom fighters is 60 years.  Public university teachers retire at the age of 65 which is 67 for judges.

Contractual employments by the government and autonomous bodies allow officials to retire at the age of 65. The BB governor post is a contractual one and in line with this all the scheduled bank also kept the retirement age 65 years for their managing directors. However, only the High Court judges in the country are currently entitled to a retirement age of 67 years.