Quota in Civil Service: HC snubs plea for re-evaluation

The High Court yesterday rejected a writ petition that sought re-evaluation and scrapping of the existing quota system in the civil service, as the writ petitioners are not affected by the system and it is a policy decision of the government.

The court passed the order saying that the petition was not acceptable for the two reasons.

Following the HC order, the quota system in government service will remain in force, petitioners' lawyer Aklas Uddin Bhuiyan told The Daily Star.

He said his clients would move an appeal before the Supreme Court's Appellate Division against the HC order. 

The bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Md Ataur Rahman Khan came up with the order after hearing arguments from the writ petitioners' counsel and the deputy attorney general concerned.

During the hearing, Aklas prayed to the HC to issue a rule questioning the legality of the government decision to keep the quota system in government jobs.

He said grandchildren of the freedom fighters are easily getting jobs due to the quota system, but many brilliant students are being deprived of the jobs because of the system.

The quota system is discriminatory and a violation of the constitution, he said, mentioning that a student of Dhaka University took his life as he failed to get a government job “due to the system”.

The court said the three writ petitioners include two journalists and a university student, but they were not aggrieved for the quota system as they did not apply for any government job.  

Deputy Attorney General Amit Talukder opposed the petition, citing two decisions of the Appellate Division that had ruled that keeping the quota system in the service is the policy decision of the government.   

DU student Anisur Rahman Mir, Member Secretary of Comilla Journalists' Association Didarul Alam, and Senior Sub-editor of daily Amader Orthoneeti Abdul Wadud filed the petition on January 31, describing the quota system as discriminatory and contrary to the constitution.

The petitioners said the constitution does not allow any discrimination.

In the petition, they mentioned that the then government on November 5, 1972, had introduced 30 percent quota for the freedom fighters and 10 percent quota for the women who were affected during the Liberation War for jobs at government, private, defence, semi-government and nationalised institutions. Later, the quota system was reformed.

The petitioners said the quota system in the civil service is against the provisions of articles 19, 28 and 29 of the constitution, which ensure equal opportunities for all citizens.

On June 3, 2014, DU student Shahabuddin Shaheen took his life as he failed to get a government job due to the quota system, they cited in the petition.

Currently, only 44 percent job seekers are recruited on the basis of merit. The remaining 56 percent candidates are recruited on the basis of the privileges under various quotas.

Of the 56 percent under quotas, 30 percent are kept for freedom fighters' children and grandchildren, 10 percent for women, 10 percent for people of districts lagging behind, 5 percent for people of indigenous communities, and the physically challenged have one percent.

Government job seekers and students are staging demonstrations at different universities and colleges across the country, demanding reformation of the quota system.