DHAKA, March 4, 2026 (BSS) – The cabinet division has issued a circular making office attendance mandatory from 9:00 am-9:40 am for all government officials and employees to provide improved services to people.

In some cases, officers and employees are not present in the office at the scheduled time due to participating in seminars, workshops, symposiums and visiting banks, hospitals and schools, said the circular issued on Monday,

As a result, it said, necessary communication between the concerned officers, employees, public and other departments is disrupted, which has an adverse impact on citizen services, the speed of administrative activities and the image of the government.

In such situation, in order to facilitate the citizen’s services, increase administrative mobility and inter-departmental coordination, all officers and employees working in government, semi-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous institutions will be required to stay in their offices from 9:00 am to 9:40 am every day, the circular read.

The authorities concerned will remain vigilant to ensure that the said time limit is not disrupted in the preparation of official programmes.

The circular further stated that as per the Government Servants (Regular Attendance) Rules, 2019 and Secretariat Instructions, 2024, it is mandatory for all government, semi-government and autonomous institutions to ensure their attendance and departure at offices at the stipulated time.

However, the obligation will not be applied for teachers, faculty members working in educational and training institutions and not engaged in administrative duties, officers and employees engaged in roster duty in hospitals, prisons, news or security related institutions.

Officers and employees directly involved in providing emergency customer service, members of law enforcement forces and similar entities performing regular duties at the field level will remain out of the purview of the circular.

It said officers and employees will not be able to leave their workplaces without the written permission of the authorities in the case of providing VVIP/VIP protocol, dealing with sudden major accidents, participating in very important meetings with development partners or diplomatic missions and on approved official visits.

They will not be able to leave their offices during office hours except for official work without informing the authorities, said the circular, which comes into immediate effect.