Staff Reporter :
An appeal petition has been filed with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the High Court order that rejected a writ petition challenging the Finance Ministry’s decision (circular) to refund the time scale benefits enjoyed by a section of primary teachers after their jobs were nationalized.
Md Aminul Islam Chowdhury, one of the teachers who enjoyed the benefits, filed the appeal petition on Monday on behalf of his colleagues, said his lawyer Barrister Muksadul Islam.
The High Court on February 28 this year rejected the writ petition that challenged the Finance Ministry’s decision (circular) to refund the time scale benefits enjoyed by a section of primary teachers after their jobs were nationalized.
The High Court bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam passed the order after holding hearing on the petition.
Deputy attorney general Tushar Kanti Roy who appeared in the High Court hearing earlier said, “Hearing the writ petition the High Court observed that it is a matter of administrative tribunal. A writ petition cannot be acceptable over the issue. So the court discharged the petition.”
“A total of 272 teachers filed a case with the administrative tribunal challenging the notification issued by finance ministry on August 12 in 2020 asking the 48720 primary teachers to refund the time scale benefits given to them. After hearing, the tribunal stayed the notification in cases of those 272 teachers,” added the state counsel.
In a program of the primary teachers, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on January 9 in 2013 announced the nationalization of the jobs of the teachers working in thousands of private primary schools across the country. Later their jobs were nationalized in 2013 and 2014 and the teachers were getting the facilities as per the rule.
But in August 12 in 2020 the Finance Ministry issued a circular asking the 48720 primary teachers, whose jobs were nationalized from the private schools, to refund the time scale benefits given to them as those were given mistakenly.
Later Md Aminul Islam Chowdhury, a primary teacher of Sirajganj district, filed a writ petition challenging the notification of the Finance Ministry.
After hearing the High Court bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice SM Kuddus Zaman on August 31 in 2020 stayed the notification of the Finance Ministry for four months.
It also issued a ruling upon the respondents to explain as to why the notification issued by the Finance Ministry on August 12 in 2020 to refund the time scale benefit by the primary teachers should not be declared illegal.
Primary and Mass education secretary and other respondents were asked to comply with the ruling within four weeks. Later the High Court bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam held hearing on the ruling and finally discharged the ruling.
