DU races to promote 207 assistant registrars before VC's departure

The Dhaka University administration has moved to promote more than 200 assistant registrars to the rank of deputy registrar in an "unprecedented" step.

Both the vice-chancellor and the registrar have acknowledged that such a large-scale promotion move has never taken place at once at the university.

Several officials in the administration estimate that if implemented, the initiative could raise the university’s annual salary expenditure by around Tk 35 million, and would also have implications for pension liabilities.

According to the Dhaka University Employees Recruitment and Promotion Policy-2020, up to one-third of approved assistant registrar posts may be promoted to deputy registrar, bdnews24.com reports.

Some officials said there are currently 12 approved assistant registrar posts in the Registrar’s Office. One-third of that number means four officials per year are eligible for promotion. Outside the Registrar’s Office, there are 51 equivalent assistant registrar posts, from which 17 officials can be promoted.

Altogether, they said, there is scope to promote 21 assistant registrars per year.

However, the current initiative seeks to promote 207 officials. Some administrators argue that such a move could create a “disparity” within the university’s administrative structure.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmed Khan said the decision had been made to address possible past inequities.

“We have decided to grant them promotion once, subject to specific conditions, just in case if anyone has been deprived like in other government offices.”