The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday reinstated the jobs of candidates who were disqualified in the second interview of the 27th Bangladesh Civil Service under the army-led caretaker government, despite having qualified in the first interview during the Bangladesh Nationalist Party rule in 2006.
A five-member bench, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, delivered the verdict, overturning its previous ruling from July 11, 2010, which had rejected a High Court order directing the government to appoint 205 disqualified candidates within three months.
With this latest ruling, the Appellate Division reinstated the High Court鈥檚 March 16, 2010, verdict, issued by Justice Miftah Uddin Chowdhury, which had declared the disqualifications unlawful.
The case dates back to 2007, when the caretaker government canceled the initial viva voce results and ordered a second round of interviews, allegedly to address complaints of irregularities. While over 3,000 candidates passed the first interview, 1,114 were ultimately disqualified after the second round in 2008.
In response, affected candidates challenged the decision in court, leading the High Court in 2008 to rule that the second viva was illegal and order the reinstatement of the original candidates. However, in 2010, the Appellate Division overturned the High Court ruling, upholding the Bangladesh Public Service Commission鈥檚 decision to conduct the second round of interviews.
A fresh review petition was filed in November 2024 by Sohel Rana and hundreds of other affected candidates, after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government through a student-led mass uprising on August 5, 2024. The Appellate Division then agreed to review whether the government鈥檚 appeal in 2010 had been resolved without allowing leave to appeal.
Senior lawyers Salahuddin Dolon, Ruhul Kuddus Kajal, and Mohammad Shishir Manir represented the disqualified candidates, while additional attorney general Aneek R Haque appeared for the state.
