HC orders PSC to publish 43rd BCS merit list in 60 days

The High Court has observed that the non-cadre recruitment process of the 43rd Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) exam has “deviated” from the existing law and has described the entire process as “opaque”.

It ordered the recruitment process to be completed by publishing a new merit list of the candidates who passed the exam within the next 60 days.

The High Court bench of Justice Sashanka Shekhar Sarkar and Justice Urmee Rahman made the decision on Thursday after disposing of a writ petition. The petition had been filed by 455 job aspirants for the non-cadre posts.

The court’s verdict came in the wake of a writ petition filed by 465 candidates who were not appointed to the BCS despite giving the final viva exam.

Lawyer Mohammad Humayun Kabir represented the writ petitioners at the hearing, while lawyer Muniruzzaman represented the Public Service Commission (PSC). After the verdict, Humayun Kabir Pallabi said that in 2020, the PSC issued a circular inviting applications for appointments to cadre and non-cadre posts. About 430,000 applications were submitted. Among the candidates, about 9,800 passed the written exams and were called for viva.

Stating that the 465 candidates who filed the writ petition had also completed all the procedures and participated in the final viva exam, their lawyer said: “According to our Non-Cadre Recruitment Special Rules 2010 and later Rules 2023, they have to publish a merit list and ask for preferences based on the merit list. Based on the call for preference, it is the responsibility of the PSC to recommend these qualified candidates to the posts that will be required by the government.”

Claiming that the PSC had “completely disregarded” this legal process, he said: “The whole matter has been clearly proven before the court today that the recruitment process of non-cadre candidates in this 43rd BCS was opaque. And the court has clearly commented that they have deviated from the existing law and disrupted this 43rd BCS non-cadre recruitment process.” -bdnews24