Quota reform: Appellate Division to plea for holding speedy hearing on Sunday

Tribune Desk |Publish: 18 Jul 2024, 07:30 PM | Update: 18 Jul 2024, 08:04 PM

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin on Thursday said the state will plea before the apex court on Sunday to bring forward the date to hear the leave to appeal petition filed against the High Court’s quota judgment.

“I have received direction from the government to expedite the hearing on leave to appeal plea filed in this regard," he said while talking to reporters at the Supreme Court.

"I would mention the matter before the Appellate Division on Sunday morning and hope that the court would accept my plea, considering the importance of the matter. We would plea to quash the High Court judgment in the hearing,” the attorney general told newsmen at his office.

Meanwhile, the government has agreed to hold discussions with students protesting for quota reforms in public sector jobs, according to Law Minister Anisul Huq.

The minister made the announcement at an emergency press briefing on the parliament premises on Thursday.

Anisul said he and Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury had been tasked by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to engage with the protesters.

Meanwhile, two students on Thursday filed a leave to appeal against the High Court ruling declaring the circular cancelling the quota system in the first and second class government jobs illegal.

Advocate Shah Manjurul Haque filed the leave to appeal on behalf of the two students in the relevant branch of the Appellate Division.

The government has filed a leave to appeal against the High Court's ruling declaring the circular canceling the quota system in the first and second class government jobs illegal.

Leave to appeal was filed in the Appellate Division on July 16.

On July 14, the full verdict of the High Court declaring the circular to cancel the quota system in the first and second class government jobs, including freedom fighters, was published. A HC bench comprising Justice KM Kamrul Quader and Justice Khizir Hayat issued the full 27-page verdict.

The judgment said, in view of the judgment and order passed by the High Court in view of a writ filed in 2012, the upheld and revised order of the Appellate Division in view of leave to appeal in 2013 and the office order dated January 16, 2011 (quota of children and grandchildren of freedom fighters) -Government was instructed to restore quota for granddaughters. At the same time, it is directed to maintain quotas for districts, women, persons with disabilities, and tribal-minorities, if any. It is directed to issue the circular as soon as possible in this regard, within three months of the order.

In the judgment, the High Court also said that this judgment will not create any obstacle for the defendants to change the quota and reduce or increase the rates in the case of the said category. The government is at liberty to fill vacant posts from general merit list if the quota is not filled in any public examination.

Later, Deputy Attorney General Sheikh Md Saifuzzaman said that last Wednesday (July 10) the Appellate Division ordered to maintain the status quo regarding the quota. The Appellate Division has fixed the date of hearing on August 7. As a result, the judgment of the High Court will not be effective for the time being.

On June 5, the High Court declared invalid the decision to cancel the quota system of first and second class freedom fighters in government jobs. The High Court bench of Justice KM Kamrul Quader and Justice Khizir Hayat declared the ruling as appropriate.

Later, on June 9, the state filed an application to suspend the judgment of the High Court.

Source: Dhaka Tribune

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