Govt circular on quota restored with SC order, don’t cause public suffering: Arafat

In line with the recent Supreme Court decision, the 2018 government circular on quota system for government jobs was restored, invalidating protesters’ demonstration causing public suffering, State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat said today (11 July).

“The (Supreme Court’s) Appellate Division order restored the 2018 government circular on quota system . . . refrain from carrying out any activity that causes public suffering,” he told BSS, referring to quota protestors’ street demonstration.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the SC’s Appellate Division issued a status quo of four weeks on the subject matter regarding quota in government jobs and the High Court judgment.

The state minister said the government issued a circular in 2018 abolishing quota in government jobs (from 9th to 13th grades), but the High Court scrapped the government circular in June this year.

However, the government has already appealed to the Supreme Court against the High Court judgment, he said, adding, in the meantime, a section of students started staging demonstrations demanding quota reform.

The full judgment of the Supreme Court over the issue is yet to be delivered, Arafat said, adding: “I think the SC will surely consider the students’ demand while delivering the full verdict.”

Noting that the government cannot do anything over the quota issue until the proceedings of the SC are completed, he said the government will definitely take an initiative to reform the quota system after getting the full judgment of the SC.