The government has the liberty to modify, reduce or increase the 56% quotas in all levels of government job recruitment, whenever it feels necessary, as per the operative portion of the High Court’s 5 June order that reinstated 56% quotas.

Furthermore, if the number of eligible job candidates is insufficient to fill the reserved seats, candidates from the merit list can be recruited to fill vacancies, the concerned High Court bench said when releasing the full text of the verdict on Thursday.

On 5 June, the High Court bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Khizir Hayat declared illegal the government's 4 October 2010 notification that abolished all quotas in first- and second-class government officer recruitment.

As per the full text of the order, relevant authorities have to reinstate 30% quotas for children and grandchildren of Freedom Fighters and maintain the remaining 26% quotas for district-specific individuals, women, physically challenged individuals as well as job seekers from tribal, minority, ethnic and other communities.

The order was issued in response to a writ filed by seven children of Freedom Fighters in 2021 seeking reinstatement of Freedom Fighter quotas. 

The government and two students of the University of Dhaka have appealed to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the HC directive. The Appellate Division has issued a status quo order for four weeks, keeping quotas abolished in first- and second-class job recruitment till the next hearing on the matter on 7 August.

BDST: 2045 HRS, JULY 11, 2024
MN