PSC member resigns from Teletalk's board

Kamal Uddin Ahmed has finally stepped down from the post of a director of Teletalk's board, which he had been holding even after becoming a member of the Public Service Commission one and a half years ago in a clear violation of the constitution.

Ahmed's resignation was accepted by the board on May 29, said Shyam Sunder Sikder, secretary of the telecom division and also the chairman of the board of the state-run mobile phone operator.

The resignation came after Supreme Court Lawyer Shahdeen Malik sent a legal notice to Ahmed in the third week of May on the issue; Malik was planning to file a petition against the constitutional violation.

He also sent the copy of the legal notice to the chairman of the PSC, the secretary of the cabinet division, the managing director of Teletalk and the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.

According to the sub-article 3 and 4 of Article 147 of Bangladesh's constitution, constitutional post-holders cannot occupy position in any profitable company or organisation. Though a government-owned company, Teletalk is registered as a commercial entity.

Ahmed became a member of the Teletalk board in 2013 when he was a joint secretary of the Information Communication Division. In January 2015 he retired as an additional secretary of the same division.

He joined the PSC as a member on February 7, 2016 while still holding the post of Teletalk.

“Kamal Uddin Ahmed has violated his oath as a member of a constitutional organisation like the PSC by being a director of a profitable organisation like Teletalk,” said Malik.

Teletalk officials held meetings with Ahmed at his PSC office. He was also on various committees and sub-committees regarding recruitment and promotions of Teletalk while being a PSC member, said senior officials of the mobile phone operator. Ahmed took part in the 166th board meeting of Teletalk on April 9 this year.

When contacted, Ahmed declined to comment on whether he violated the constitution.

After the issue was picked up by the media, the government took initiatives to reorganise the Teletalk board along with some other state-run companies. Some other Teletalk board members are holding their directorship although they no longer hold the portfolio that had brought them to the Teletalk board.

When contacted, Tarana Halim, state minister for telecom, said not only the Teletalk board, the government is working to reconstitute the boards of some other state-run companies and will drop the members who are not currently holding their posts at the organisations they were nominated from.  “We are not singling anyone out. We have decided to reconstitute the boards of all state-owned companies,” said Tarana.

She said the government is trying to bring in some independent experts with engineering and marketing background. The government has five telecom-related companies under the telecom division.