The government has waived the punishment of 20 National Board of Revenue (NBR) officials who had been given minor penalties after being temporarily suspended over protests against the NBR’s division into two separate bodies.
The decision was announced in separate notifications signed on Sept. 2 by NBR Acting Chairman and Internal Resources Division Acting Secretary Ahsan Habib.
The notifications were published on the Internal Resources Division’s website on Sunday.
The officials whose punishment was waived are: Deputy Commissioner Md. Shahadat Jamil, Revenue Officer Shafiul Bashar, Revenue Officer Sabuj Mia, Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Saidul Alam, Commissioner Zakir Hossain, Joint Commissioner Md. Sanowarul Kabir, Additional Commissioner Sadhan Kumar Kundu, Additional Commissioner A.A.M. Amimul Ehsan, Additional Commissioner Sifat-e-Mariam, Additional Commissioner Hasan Muhammad Tareq Rikabdar, Deputy Tax Commissioner Md. Zillur Rahman, Deputy Tax Commissioner Imam Tawhid Hasan Shakil, Additional Tax Commissioner Mirza Ashik Rana, Joint Tax Commissioner Monalisa Shahreen Susmita, Joint Tax Commissioner Mamun Mia, Additional Tax Commissioner Ms. Chand Sultana, Additional Tax Commissioner Sultana Habib, Additional Tax Commissioner Murad Ahmed, Joint Tax Commissioner Ms. Masuma Khatun, and Joint Tax Commissioner Mohammad Morshed Uddin.
The notifications state that these officials, at 11:30 a.m. on June 24, 2025, gathered at the entrance to the Revenue Bhaban and, without lawful justification, defiantly and publicly tore up a transfer order issued on June 22 that year in front of electronic and print media. Through this, they engaged in insubordinate conduct and effectively endorsed defiance of the transfer order.
The notifications further state that such conduct is harmful to job discipline, discourteous, and tantamount to disregarding a government order. It constitutes a violation of Rule 303 of the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules, 1979, and a punishable offense classified as “misconduct” under Rule 3(b) of the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 2018.
Since the allegations in the departmental cases were proven beyond doubt, some of the officials’ pay was reduced by several steps, and others’ pay was reduced for several years.
The notifications also state that these officials, through the proper channel, submitted appeals to the president seeking clemency by July 30. The president granted the appeals and ordered the punishment revoked.
Based on this, an order has been issued canceling the reduction-in-pay penalty against the officials and clearing them of liability in the related departmental cases.
Earlier, at a revenue conference on Aug. 18, NBR officials had appealed to Prime Minister Tareque Rahman to withdraw the punishment taken against them. At the time, the prime minister said the matter was under consideration.
In 2025, the interim government issued an ordinance splitting the NBR into two separate divisions, “Revenue Management” and “Revenue Policy.” NBR officials and staff launched protests, including pen-down strikes and other programs, demanding the ordinance be scrapped.
On May 22 that year, a Finance Ministry press release said necessary amendments would be made to the ordinance, and that all NBR operations would continue under the existing structure until the amendments were made.
In the meantime, officials and staff at the agency raised various allegations and launched a fresh protest demanding the resignation of then-NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan, declaring him “persona non grata” at the agency’s office.
To press their demands, officials and staff launched a “complete shutdown” program on June 28. Their protest brought NBR operations, including import-export activities, to a standstill. When the program continued the next day, the interim government decided to declare the agency’s services “essential.”
Through mediation by business leaders, the protesters’ platform, the NBR Reform Unity Council, later withdrew the shutdown program.
Even before the new government was formed, punitive action against officials followed one after another. Many officials were forced into retirement, while others received minor penalties.