HC suspends recruitment of 3,534 junior instructors for 3 months

The High Court today (27 January) suspended for three months the recruitment process for 3,534 individuals selected by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC) for junior instructors (tech) post in various polytechnic and technical educational institutions across the country.

The bench of Justice Md Akram Hossain Chowdhury and Justice KM Rasheduzzaman Raja issued the order in response to a writ petition filed by 18 candidates. 

In the writ, the petitioners alleged that various irregularities, including question paper leaks, occurred in the recruitment examination.

After the hearing, the court issued a rule suspending the issuance of joining notifications for these appointees. 

Barristers Kayser Kamal and AZM Nurul Amin, accompanied by lawyers M Maksud Ullah, Roknuzzaman Shuja, and Shafiqul Islam, represented the petitioners during the hearing.

The recruitment process began in October 2021 with the publication of a gazette notification. 

A written examination was held in March 2022, followed by oral examinations in May and June. However, allegations of question paper leaks surfaced in several media reports last year.

One report in a national daily detailed significant financial transactions in the accounts of individuals suspected to be involved in the question paper leak ring, coinciding with the dates of the recruitment examination.

Despite these allegations and an ongoing investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the BPSC published the final results in November 2022. Subsequently, on 23 January 2024, separate joining notifications were issued for the 3,534 appointees. 

Lawyers representing the petitioners argued that the recruitment process should have been suspended pending the investigation into the alleged irregularities, similar to the suspension of railway recruitments following similar allegations.