Sources said the finance secretary gave his approval on July 31 to a proposal for providing selection grade for half of a total of 2,516 diploma pharmacists and it is just awaiting to be issued as government order (GO).

A vested interest group within the ministry and BNP has convinced the finance secretary to give the nod, though approval from the finance minister and the cabinet committee on wage discrimination is mandatory in such cases, they added.

However, Finance Secretary Siddiqur Rahman Choudhury told The Daily Star that he could not remember whether he has signed such a file or not as he is signing hundreds of files every day.

The implementation division of the finance ministry in an order on February 11, 1990 provided a salary scale of Tk 470 (amended pay scale of Tk 1000 and present scale of Tk 4,100) for the diploma pharmacists. But in that order, it was not mentioned whether the selection grade that they got earlier would remain in force or not.

As a result, the accountant general's (AG) office ordered them to refund the money given in selection grade. Challenging the order, Abdul Bari Mian and Amir Ali -- two pharmacists of Suhrawardy Hospital -- filed a case with the administrative tribunal in 1997 and the case is still pending.

An inter-ministerial meeting held on August 10 in 1998 with the representatives from the AG office, directorate of health, health ministry and the finance ministry decided that it will not be wise to take any decision on selection grade now since a case is still pending.

As per government rules and regulations, the proposal to provide selection grade should be sent to the cabinet committee on wage discrimination after the finance minister approves it. And the government order should be issued after the cabinet committee approves it. But, due to reasons unknown, an initiative has been taken to provide selection grade to the diploma pharmacists in violation of the rules.

The sources said the vested quarter concealed the information about the exact number of diploma pharmacists and told the finance secretary that an additional Tk 16 lakh will be needed to provide selection grade for them.

"In fact, around Tk 30.19 lakh more will be needed to provide selection grade for 50 percent of 2,516 diploma pharmacists as shown in the proposal," said a source seeking anonymity.

According to the directorate of health, the number of diploma pharmacists working in public institutions is 3,949, but the quarter concealed the actual number from the secretary to manipulate him, the sources alleged.