Former secretary of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Dr Ferdous Zaman has been suspended. The decision was taken at the full commission meeting of the commission on January 29.
This information was revealed from the minutes of the meeting on Thursday (February 6), according to local media reports.
After the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, Ferdous Zaman was removed from his position as secretary and transferred to the post of director of the Research Support and Publication Department.
Meanwhile, the minutes of the UGC meeting reveal that in order to ascertain the truth about the allegations made against Dr. Ferdous Zaman, former secretary of the commission (currently director of the RSP department), a 3-member fact-finding committee was formed with former chairman and former secretary of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Dr. Md. Abdul Majid as the convener, Deputy Attorney General Md. Asad Uddin and the commission's deputy secretary (legal) Nurnahar Begum Shiuli.
The overall observation of the committee is that UGC is the highest regulatory authority of all universities in the country. Since joining such an institution, Dr. Ferdous Zaman has been accused of various charges at various times.
Despite the allegations raised against him being proven multiple times, he was repeatedly promoted, made permanent, given various benefits, and appointed to the highest posts of the administration without taking appropriate disciplinary action as per the 'Government Employees (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 2018'.
Therefore, it is necessary to increase the status and image of the institution by taking appropriate decisions in the full commission meeting in this regard.
In light of the observation, the Commission meeting decided to suspend Dr. Ferdous Zaman temporarily as per the ‘Government Employees (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 2018’.
In addition, an investigation committee was formed to provide him with adequate opportunity to defend himself and to thoroughly analyze the legal issues and follow the ‘Government Employees (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 2018’ properly.
A decision was taken to implement the decision after taking the opinion/advice of the Commission’s Legal Cell in this regard.
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