The Supreme Court today stayed for eight weeks a High Court verdict that cancelled appointments of three teachers of Crop Science and Technology Department of Rajshahi University.

The three RU teachers are: Shamsun Nahar, Mukhtar Hossain and Rezvi Ahmed Bhuiyan.

Following a writ petition, the HC on January 29 cancelled their appointments, as they were appointed without recommendation from the relevant planning committee of the department.

Today, Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division of the SC, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, passed the order following two separate petitions filed by RU and three teachers seeking stay on the HC verdict.

The apex court chamber judge also asked them (RU and three teachers) to file separate leave to appeal petitions with this court in eight weeks against the HC verdict.

The SC chamber judge passed the stay order as the three teachers have already joined their offices, are discharging functions and getting salaries.

The HC had cancelled their appointments without issuing any rule upon them and without hearing their arguments, Barrister ABM Altaf Hossain, the lawyer for RU and three teachers, told The Daily Star.

At the same time, Advocate AF Hasan Ariff, a senior lawyer for the writ petitioner, told this newspaper that RU teachers Shamsun Nahar, Mukhtar Hossain and Rezvi Ahmed Bhuiyan can continue functioning following the SC chamber judge’s stay order.         

Following the writ petition by Dr Md Ali Asgar, a professor of Crop Science and Technology Department of RU and a member of its planning committee, the HC on January 29 also declared illegal a job circular issued on July 30, 2019, under which the three were appointed.

It ordered authorities to finish appointment for the three vacant posts within 30 days of receiving the certified copy of the verdict.

Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua, a lawyer for the writ petitioner, on January 29 told reporters that RU authorities issued a circular in November 2016 to recruit three teachers to the department, but they were ultimately not appointed under that circular.

Instead, authorities issued another circular on July 30, 2019. In it, candidates’ qualifications were relaxed without consent from the department’s planning committee. This prompted Dr Asgar to file the writ petition in August last year, he said.

The HC that same month issued a rule questioning the legality of the July 30, 2019 circular, Jyotirmoy added. Despite this, the three were appointed under the circular in January this year, although the rule was pending with the HC.