Mohammad Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury is a retired Bangladeshi Civil Servant and former Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration. [1] [2] Prior to this appointment, he served as Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping [3] and Local Government Division. [4]
Chowdhury joined the Bangladesh Civil Service as an assistant commissioner in 1991. [5]
In May 2004, Chowdhury was elected office secretary of Dhaka University Political Science Department Alumni Association. [6] He was former stationed at the Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management. [7]
Chowdhury was the joint secretary of Cabinet Division in 2017. [8] In 2018, he was the Sylhet Divisional Commissioner. [9]
In February 2020, Chowdhury was transferred from additional Secretary to Appointment Promotion and Deputation Wing of Ministry of Public Administration to Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping. [10] Chowdhury launched an alternate ferry service for the Shimulia-Kathalbari route on an experimental basis. [11] He suggest using waterways to trade with India to reduce costs. [12] [13] He advocated using the India-Bangla protocol routes under Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and highlighted the opportunity for Bangladesh to trade with the Seven Sister States of India. [14] [15] He was present in negotiations with the Water transport workers which led to the strike ending. [16] [17] He reported that a ferry hit the pillar of the Padma Bridge due to negligence of the crew. [18] He was present at the 2.34 billion BDT contract signing between Chattogram Port Authority and Nippon Koei JV. [19]
In 2021, Chowdhury was the secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. [20] He was present at the inauguration function of a 7.93 billion BDT dredging project for Mongla Port led by chairman of the port Rear Admiral Mohammad Musa in March. [20] He saw the launch of Matarbari Port. [21] He sought US$58 million from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to upgrade Chattogram Port. [22] In December 2021, he delegation led by Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, State Minister for Shipping, to the Expo 2020. [23]
In March 2022, Chowdhury, as secretary of the Ministry of Shipping, worked to bring the crew of MV Banglar Samriddhi from Ukraine. [24] It had been hit by a missile in the Black Sea during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine killing one of the crew member. [24] He was present at the graduation ceremony of the Bangladesh Marine Academy. [3] In May 2022, he was transferred from the Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping to the Secretary of the Local Government Division. [25] He served under Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Md Tazul Islam. [26]
On 27 October 2022, Chowdhury was promoted to senior secretary. [5] [27] On 31 October, he was transferred from the Local Government Division to the Ministry of Public Administration replacing KM Ali Azam. [5] [28] He launched the Government Employee Management System for the public administration. [29] According to The Daily Star, he oversaw significant changes in the public administration postings to advantage the Awami League led government before the general election in 2024. [30]
Mokhlesur Rahman replaced Chowdhury as the Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration. [31] After retirement, Chowdhury sought nomination for the Bhola-4 constituency from Awami League ahead of the general election in 2024. [32] He was made an officer on special duty after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina led Awami League government and Md. Mokhlesur Rahman was appointed his replacement. [33]