The High Court on Wednesday asked the government to restore 30 per cent quota for the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters while recruiting cadre and non-cadre officers in the civil service.
The court asked the government to recruit cadre and non-cadre officers from the merit list if freedom fighters quota could not be fulfilled.聽
The bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Khizir Hayat issued the directive after declaring 鈥榠llegal鈥� a part of the government circular issued on October 4, 2018 abolishing freedom fighters quota in the public service.
The government circular announced abolishing al the 56 per cent quotas in the public service in the wake of street protests by the public university students and jobseekers demanding reforms to the quota system introduced in 1972.
The court pronounced the verdict after disposing of a writ petition filed by Ohidul Islam, son of freedom fighter Md Foyez Uddin from Rahimgonj of Mymensingh, and six others in 2021 challenging the legality of abolishing 30 per cent quota for the dependents of freedom fighters.聽聽聽
The dependents of the freedom fighters argued that the government abolished the freedom fighters鈥� quota in violation of a High Court verdict that on February 12, 2012 directed the government to maintain 30 per cent for the offspring of the freedom fighters in every appointment.
The High Court verdict was later upheld by the Appellate Division, they added.聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
Until the abolition, about 56 per cent of government jobs were reserved for candidates from various quotas. Of this, 30 per cent were for freedom fighters鈥� children and grandchildren, 10 per cent for women, 10 per cent for people of underdeveloped districts, 5 per cent for members of indigenous communities and 1 per cent for physically challenged people.聽
On November 5, 1972, then government through an executive order introduced 30 per cent quota for freedom fighters and 10 per cent for women in the jobs at the government, semi-government, and defense and nationalised institutions.
Senior lawyer Munsurul Hoque Chowdhury appeared for the petitioners, while deputy attorney general Sheikh Shaifuzzaman represented the state.
