Staff Reporter :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted its earlier order to maintain status quo on recruitment process in 2021 posts of the state-owned Sonali Bank circulated in 2016 allowing the authorities to resume the process.
The court also rejected five leave to appeal petitions filed by the job seekers against the High Court verdict in this regard.
A four-member Bench of the Appellate Division headed by the Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order.
Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury, a lawyer of the bank, said that now there was no legal bar for the authorities to continue the recruitment process as per the circular published in 2016, according to the latest order of the apex court.
According to the case documents, the authorities concerned of Sonali Bank issued three separate circulars on February 22 in 2016 for recruiting a total of 2201 Senior Officers, Officers and Cash Officer for the bank.
A total of 474 people, who were applicants for the posts of Sonali Bank on the basis of another circular issued on January 31 in 2014, filed five separate writ petitions with the HC challenging the legality of the three recruitment circulars issued on February 22 in 2016.
The writ petitioners said in the petitions their names were found in the internal merit list prepared by the authorities after they qualified in the examinations held on the basis of the circular issued on January 31 in 2014, but they were not recruited.
After holding final hearing, the HC on July 27 last year rejected the writ petitions, Barrister Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury told the journalists.
The writ petitioners, later on, filed five separate leave to appeal petitions with the Supreme Court challenging the HC verdict.
Following the leave to appeal petitions, the SC Chamber Judge directed the authorities to maintain status quo on the process for recruitments to the posts under the circulars issued on February 22 in 2016.
The full bench of the Appellate Division vacated the order of status quo meaning that the Sonali Bank authorities can resume the process for recruiting candidates to 2201 posts of Senior Officer, Officer and Cash officer of the bank under the February 22 in 2016 circulars, Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury added.
Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh and Advocate Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury appeared for Sonali Bank, while Advocate Abdul Matin Khasru, Advocate Quamrul Haque Siddique, Advocate Rafiqur Rahman and Advocate A M Aminuddin argued for the writ petitioners.
