Quota reforms on PM’s table
FROM PAGE 1
abolished quotas for ninth to 13th grade recruitments.
A BCS cadre joins the civil service in the ninth grade.
Earlier yesterday, the public administration ministry official told journalists that a briefing would be held at the minister’s residence at 5:30pm.
Around 6:30pm, the minister told reporters that they sent the summery of the proposal to the prime minister and they would issue the circular once the PM approves it.
The minister reappeared before the journalists around 9:45pm and said they had the PM’s approval. He sat down for the press briefing but immediately left to receive a phone call. Some TV channels then reported that the circular had been issued.
Meanwhile, some top officials of the ministry had a meeting with the minister.
Farhad again sat for the press briefing around 10:45pm and once again left to pick up a phone call.
Half an hour later, he said they would hold a press conference on the circular during a curfew break today.
The government move to issue a circular came a day after a Supreme Court verdict set 93 percent jobs in the civil service on merit. There will be five percent quota for children of freedom fighters, martyred freedom fighters and Biranganas, one percent for ethnic minorities and one percent for people with disabilities and of third gender.
This major reform to the quota system was made in the wake of a massive student protest.
At least 146 people were killed and several thousand injured since Tuesday last week after law enforcers and ruling party men clashed with protesters in Dhaka and elsewhere.
The sheer scale of violence prompted the government to impose a curfew and deploy the armed forces across the country.
In October 2018, the government, through a hastily issued circular, scrapped the quota system for recruitments in grade 9-13 following students’ demonstrations for quota reforms.
But the students did not want the quota system to be abolished, they rather wanted it reformed.
At that time, there was 30 percent quota for freedom fighters’ children and grandchildren, 10 percent for districts that are lagging behind, 10 percent for women, five percent for ethnic minorities and one percent for physically challenged people.
The government decision to abolish the quota system was challenged in the High Court by seven children of freedom fighters. In response, the HC on June 5 declared the government circular illegal, essentially reinstating the 56 percent quota in government jobs.
The HC verdict sparked students’ protests on public university campuses. Students from private universities, colleges, and in some cases from schools joined in.
The protests intensified after the Supreme Court on July 4 declined to stay the HC verdict.
After three days of nationwide demonstrations, the SC issued a status quo on the HC verdict and set August 7 for a hearing. The decision did little to pacify the protesters.
As protests escalated and the death toll climbed, the government requested the top court to hold an early hearing.
The seven-member full bench of the Appellate Division of the SC, led by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan, on Sunday issued the order regarding reforms of the quota system.