The government has filed a petition with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking stay on the High Court verdict that reinstating the 30 per cent quota for the freedom fighters' children in government jobs.
Assistant Attorney General Muhammad Saiful Alam said that the petition was submitted to the concerned branch of the Appellate Division on Sunday and chamber judge of the Appellate Division may hold hearing on the petition later in the day.
Citing the government petition, Saiful Alam said cancellation of the quota system in the civil service is a policy decision of the government, in which the HC cannot make any interference.
On June 5, after the final hearing of a writ petition filed in this regard, the High Court bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Khizir Hayat declared illegal the government decision that cancelled the 30 per cent quota system for the freedom fighters' children in the civil service of ninth to 13th grades in 2018.
The 30 per cent quota for the freedom fighters' children has been restored following the HC verdict.
On October 4, 2018, in the face of a student movement, the government issued a circular cancelling the 10 per cent women quota, the 30 per cent freedom fighter quota and the 10 per cent district quota for government jobs.
According to the circular issued by the Ministry of Public Administration, the existing quota system for direct recruitment to the posts of ninth grade (previously first class) and 10th to 13th grade (previously second class) was scrapped in favour of a merit-based system.
However, the circular stated that though the quota system for first and second-class jobs was abolished, the quotas will remain in place for third and fourth-class posts.
Meanwhile, seven people including, Ohidul Islam Tushar and six others, who are children of freedom fighters, filed a writ petition in the High Court in 2021 challenging the validity of that circular. The High Court decided on that petition on June 5.
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