Food and Disaster Management Secretary Ehsan Ul Fattah in a rejoinder to the news published in The Daily Star on November 25 under "Secret meet of admin big wigs at ex-energy adviser's office" said he neither attended the meeting nor was aware of the said meeting.

He said on the day the meeting took place he was in a 'kulkhwani' of one of his relatives in a mosque at Dhanmondi, Road No 7 (Old).

"As a public servant throughout my whole service life I tried to serve the government neutrally and with due satisfaction of my authority," Fattah added.

The home ministry on Thursday protested a report published in a section of newspapers mentioning the name of Home Secretary SM Jahurul Islam in a list of 17

in-service and retired government officials who allegedly joined a secret meeting at a Uttara house.

A report headlined 'Uttara conspiracy: Jalil told names of 17' was published in the Daily Sangbad and another one headlined '14-party submit a list of 17 bureaucrats involved in Uttara conspiracy' in the daily Ajker Kagoj while some other newspapers presented the news from different angles, a home ministry rejoinder said.

The rejoinder said inclusion of the name of the home secretary in the list of 17 in-service and retired government officials saying that they attended a secret meeting at a house in Uttara is incorrect, baseless, deliberate and imaginary.

"The fact is that the home secretary did not go to Uttara that day. He went straight back to his residence from his office and stayed there on that day. But the home secretary's name concerning the meeting was published in some newspapers on November 25 and the next day they published rejoinders on the report. Besides, during his talks to reporters from the electronics and print media on November 27 he made it clear that he was not present at the Uttara meeting. This was published and telecast accordingly."

Publishing a 'condemnable' and 'untrue' report regarding a secretary-level officer of the government is not acceptable on any criterion of ethics, the rejoinder said.

It requested to check authenticity before publishing reports in future.

In a separate rejoinder to a report headlined "Govt to probe bureaucrats' secret date with Mahmud" that went with a picture published in The Daily Star on November 26 Dr Md Abdus Sabur, joint secretary of the Cabinet Division, said the report concerning him is mendacious.

He said the picture with caption -- Abdus Sabur, Joint Secretary, Cabinet Division tried to hide his face while leaving ex-energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman's business office in Uttara -- is not correct.

"In fact I was not present in that alleged secret meeting, and the picture is not mine," Sabur said in his rejoinder sent to The Daily Star recently.