On December 14, 2017, the High Court Division (HCD) bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Haque and Justice Mohammad Ullah of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh issued a seven-point direction regarding the appointment of teachers in the non-government education institutions. Earlier, the HCD had issued different rules regarding the said issue at various points of time. All the rules were disposed of with this verdict and the subsequent directions and guidelines issued by the bench.
Quota system in appointments in government and non-government institutions has been a very debatable issue for quite a long time. Especially in the non-government organizations, the existence of quota system has at times stifled the process of meritocracy in the appointment system and failed to do justice to the deserving candidates. In this regard, Mr. Selim Reza from Jamalpur and 172 others filed a writ petition challenging Rule 9(2) (c) of the Non-Government Teachers' Registration and Certification Authority (NTRCA) Rules, 2006 which directs NTRCA to prepare a merit list after the written and viva examinations on Upazila, District and National basis.
Advocate Ishrat Hasan, appearing on behalf of the writ petitioners, submitted that the aforementioned Rule 9(2) (c) was challenged as being ultra vires to Article 29 of our Constitution since, in Article 29(1), the equality of opportunity in public employment has been guaranteed for all citizens. It was further contended that for the imposition of the quota system based on the Upazila and District of the candidates, many deserving and worthy examinees were deprived of employment opportunities; a serious breach of their fundamental rights.
Following the hearing of this writ, the HCD on November 8, 2017 issued a rule to explain as to why the Upazila and District quota regarding the appointment of teachers in non-government education institutions would not be illegal. The Education Secretary, NTRCA Authorities were made respondents to the rule. Afterwards, while disposing of the rules issued at different times on this matter, the HCD gave a seven-point direction to ensure fairness in the appointment process of teachers in non-government education institutions.
The Court directed NTRCA to prepare only one combined national merit list of the candidates and to discard any other merit list prepared on the basis of Upazila, District or Division of the candidates. NTRCA has also been directed to update the combined national merit list once every year. Additionally, the Court directed the Government to fix the age limit in the entry level for the appointment of teachers in non-government education institutions. Among the other directions, the Court ordered NTRCA to publish the combined merit list from 90 days of receiving the order in their official website to ensure that applicants get to see the merit list and their respective positions therein.
Furthermore, it has been directed that the certificates to be issued to the candidates for appointment in non-government education institutions will remain valid till they receive appointments as teachers and the existing validity period of 3 years are to be set aside. Lastly, the Court directed that if the managing committee or the governing body of any education institution failed to act according to the recommendation of NTRCA regarding the appointment of the teachers in the said institution within 60 days of receiving such recommendation, the concerned managing committee would be dissolved.
Following this verdict, Advocate Humayun Kabir and Advocate Ishrat Hasan remarked that this will be a milestone in ensuring fairness in the appointment procedure of teachers in the non-government education institutions. They also added that at present, almost 2 lakh registered applicants hold 6 lakh certificates. This verdict would gradually ensure employment opportunities for all of them since now, a combined national merit list would be prepared and candidates would not be discriminated based on their respective Upazilas or Districts.
Article 28 and 29 talk about citizens not being discriminated based on any ground and equal opportunities being granted to citizens during employments in the service of the Republic respectively. Hence, unconstitutional provisions like Rule 9 of the NTRCA Rules, 2006 act as a barrier to achieving the abovementioned aims.
The verdict of the HCD to discard any merit list on Upazila and District basis, the directions regarding the preparation of a combined national merit list and the validity of the certificates of the candidates not expiring till their appointments as teachers in non-government education institutions are indeed praiseworthy. The judicial activism of the Courts in these instances will surely go a long way to achieve the dream of establishing an egalitarian society in Bangladesh.
Ali Mashraf is a student of law at University of Dhaka
