Quotas for people with disabilities to remain unchanged, says cabinet secretary

Cabinet Secretary Mohammed Shafiul Alam says the cabinet has done away with the quota system for government jobs, but has kept the quota for people with disabilities unchanged.

The law cannot be changed by administrative order, he said, and the various quotas for people with disabilities ‘will remain as before’.

It was not clear from his remarks how the quota for people with disabilities will be implemented.

The cabinet approved a national action plan on disabilities on Monday based on the ‘Persons with Disabilities Rights and Protection Act 2013’ and the ‘Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2015.

During a press conference on the cabinet meeting a reporter asked Shafiul Alam whether the matter of the disability quota was brought up at the meeting.

“It was not discussed,” the cabinet secretary said. “But the quota in the law has remained unchanged. Our administrative orders cannot supersede the law.”

Asked what percentage quota was being implemented for people with disabilities, Shafiul said: “There were various quotas in various sectors.

Until last year 56 percent of government jobs were reserved under various quotas. Children of Liberation War fighters had 30 percent, women 10 percent, ‘backward districts’ 10 percent, minorities 5 percent and people with disabilities 1 percent.

The government formed a committee led by the cabinet secretary to revise the quota after intense protests from a portion of students and job seekers.

The cabinet approved a list of recommendations from the committee that would remove quotas from first and second class government jobs.

The following day the Ministry of Public Administration issued a circular announcing the removal of the quotas. The PSC then announced that it would not take quotas into consideration during the 40th BCS.

Asked how the quota for disabilities has remained, the cabinet secretary said:

“The quota is as it was before.”