The government on Tuesday sent three senior foreign ministry officials to forced retirement.

They are additional foreign secretary Maruf Zaman and directors general of the ministry -- Ashraf Uddin and Hasib Aziz.

They were attached to the foreign ministry as officer on special duty (OSD) and sent to compulsory retirement on completion of their 25 years in service, sources in the Ministry of Public Administration said.

The ministry issued an order in this regard where ‘public interest’ was shown as reason behind sending them into forced retirement.

Senior Secretary to the Public Administration Ministry Abdus Sobhan Sikder said the foreign ministry did all the procedure regarding the retirement of the officials. “We have just issued an order,” he told The Daily Star.

The government can send an officer to compulsory retirement under Section 9 (2) of the Public Servant (retirement) Act, 1974 if the officer completes 25 years in service, he said, adding that an officer can be sent to retirement on various grounds, including moral turpitude and gross professional misconduct.

He, however, could not say on what specific reasons the three officers were sent on retirement.

In June this year, three additional secretaries and two joint secretaries of the admin cadre were sent on forced retirement.

An officer can not appeal to the government against his compulsory retirement but he can go to court to seek justice.