For
a long period, Persons with Disabilities (PWD) have been depriving of their
rights to take participate in civil service examinations since it was
prohibited to recruit disable person in civil service job.
The
change has come recently through landmark ruling from the High Court Division of
the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.
It
has directed to allow the PWDs to sit in 33rd Bangladesh Civil
Service (BCS) examinations and to arrange reasonable accommodation in
examination halls.
The
application was filed on 15 March 2012 after the Public Service Commission
issued a notification regarding the 33rd BCS examination which did
not have any reference to persons with disabilities.
The
High Court allowed the application filed on behalf of Advocate Shapan Chowkidar,
a visually impaired Lawyer and three human rights and disability rights organizations
namely Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust ((BLAST), Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) and Action on Disability and Development
(ADD) to allow persons with disabilities to sit for the 33rd BCS
examination.
They
argued that such institutionalized discrimination violates fundamental rights.
They called for the rights to equal opportunity under the Disability Welfare
Act, 2001, referring to recent Government policy changes.
As
for example the National Policy on Disability, 1995 states that, “A disabled
persons cannot be treated as disqualified for government employment if s/he is
otherwise competent and s/he cannot be prevent from participating in the BCS
examination.’
The
policy also states that “The age limit for persons with disabilities will be
relaxed by five years.’ Further the Secretary, Ministry of Public
Administration published a notification on 12 January 2012 stating that “one
percent quota will be reserved for person with disabilities in all government,
semi- government and autonomous offices/institutions.”
A
total of 44 disable candidates for the first time participated in the 33rd
BCS examination in the history of Bangladesh after the landmark direction given
by the Court.
Background of the case:
Previously,
on 18 April 2010 Advocate Shapan Chowkidar, a visually impaired individual
along some others human rights organization filed a writ petition (No. 2932 of
2010) challenging Schedule 3 of the BCS rules which prohibits the recruitment
of disabled people in the civil service. On their movement for the writ
petition the petitioners was assisted in their research by the Harvard Project
on Disability.
The petitioners argued that such discrimination violates
fundamental rights, particularly to equal opportunities to public employment
and to freedom of profession, and that the failure of the government to make
any accommodation for employment of such persons amounts to non-compliance with
its duties under the Disability Welfare Act, 2001
Subsequently, On 25 April 2010, the High Court
directed the President and Secretary of the National Disability Welfare
Committee to submit a report detailing steps taken to implement their
obligations under section 6[2] and schedule ‘Cha’ of the Disability welfare
Act. The committee submitted a report to the Court but did not mention measure
taken to ensure disabled persons employment opportunity and further noted that
the age and education qualification criteria for recruitment of disabled person
to the civil service remained under consideration.
(Source- BLAST’s Press Release; link: http://www.blast.org.bd/content/pressrelease/press-release-BCS-20-03-12-eng.pdf)
Reported by Akramul Islam, a Student at the Department
of Law, University of Dhaka and Volunteer at the Human Rights Law Clinic at the
South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS) in
Dhaka.
Related Links: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
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