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Published : 25 Jun 2026, 02:08 PM
The High Court has observed that the non-cadre recruitment process of the 43rd Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) exam has “deviated” from the existing law and has described the entire process as “opaque”.
It ordered the recruitment process to be completed by publishing a new merit list of the candidates who passed the exam within the next 60 days.
The High Court bench of Justice Sashanka Shekhar Sarkar and Justice Urmee Rahman made the decision on Thursday after disposing of a writ petition.
The petition had been filed by 455 job aspirants for the non-cadre posts.
The court's verdict came in the wake of a writ petition filed by 465 candidates who were not appointed to the BCS despite giving the final viva exam.
Lawyer Mohammad Humayun Kabir represented the writ petitioners at the hearing, while lawyer Muniruzzaman represented the Public Service Commission (PSC).
After the verdict, Humayun Kabir Pallabi said that in 2020, the PSC issued a circular inviting applications for appointments to cadre and non-cadre posts. About 430,000 applications were submitted. Among the candidates, about 9,800 passed the written exams and were called for viva.
Stating that the 465 candidates who filed the writ petition had also completed all the procedures and participated in the final viva exam, their lawyer said: "According to our Non-Cadre Recruitment Special Rules 2010 and later Rules 2023, they have to publish a merit list and ask for preferences based on the merit list. Based on the call for preference, it is the responsibility of the PSC to recommend these qualified candidates to the posts that will be required by the government."
Claiming that the PSC had “completely disregarded” this legal process, he said: "The whole matter has been clearly proven before the court today that the recruitment process of non-cadre candidates in this 43rd BCS was opaque. And the court has clearly commented that they have deviated from the existing law and disrupted this 43rd BCS non-cadre recruitment process."
Pallabi said, “Since the clear provision of publishing the merit list of candidates for non-cadre posts and making appointments on the basis of it has been violated and the process has been done in a non-transparent manner, the court has ordered the publishing of the list of the 43rd BCS non-cadre candidates, i.e. the list of successful candidates, within the next 60 days and for the appointment process to be completed once again.”
In response to journalists’ questions about the 642 people who have already been recommended for appointment in the non-cadre posts, the lawyer for the writ petitioners said: “We challenged the issue of those who have already been appointed, but we stated that since they have joined - if they have gotten their posts as per the rules - then we have no objection. However, the possibility remains of their appointments being cancelled while conducting a transparent process.”
When asked what the court had to say about the 465 candidates whose applications were the subject of this ruling, the lawyer said: "According to the rules and regulations for this desired post and if they are eligible in the examination, that is, if they are qualified, the PSC will consider their cases in this recruitment process."
He said, "The other posts that are there - there are about 12,000 posts – for those 12,000 posts, we have 465 candidates and petitioners. The court has ordered the consideration of their cases."
The lawyer also said many candidates have already crossed the age limit for government service.
Commenting that talented people will be “discouraged” by the role played by the PSC as a constitutional institution, Pallabi said: "If a government and constitutionally established institution completes this recruitment process in such an opaque and unfair manner, then our country's talent will not grow, its talent will not develop, and talented people will no longer apply for our government jobs.
"We have raised this issue in court and it has been clearly stated in today's verdict by the honourable court that it was not based on merit."
PSC lawyer Moniruzzaman told bdnews24.com, “The High Court has ordered the publication of the BCS non-cadre merit list within 60 days after the hearing. The court did not say anything about directly appointing or recommending anyone. It has asked the PSC to make recommendations according to the law.”
Explaining the verdict, he further said: “The High Court did not make the rule absolute, nor did they dismiss it. It only settled the rule by directing the publication of the results within 60 days.”
In response to a question on whether an appeal will be filed against the verdict, the lawyer said: “A copy of the verdict will be obtained and discussed with the PSC. After that, if they are aggrieved by the verdict, the decision on the appeal will be finalised.
