Order to make jobs permanent for 137 Technical Training Center employees upheld

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has upheld the High Court’s order to regularise the jobs of 137 employees working under the Staff Bus Service Program and the Technical Training Center, both controlled by the Bangladesh Employee Welfare Board. The employees’ jobs will now be made permanent in the revenue sector.

The decision was delivered on Monday by a bench led by Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury on Monday.

Deputy Attorney General Khandakar Bahar Rumi represented the state during the hearing, while senior lawyer Md. Ruhul Kuddus Kajal appeared on behalf of the petitioners, accompanied by advocate Md. Monirul Islam Mia.

According to advocate Md. Monirul Islam Mia, the employees had filed a writ petition in the High Court back in 2016 seeking job regularization. The High Court ruling, published on June 15, 2016, directed that following the guidelines for regularizing irregular employees under the LGED project, the staff of the Bus Service Program and the Technical Training Center must also be made permanent. The court further ordered swift implementation of the decision based on an 11-point guideline outlined in 17 BLC (AD) 91.

Although the 15th board meeting later decided to include these positions in the organizational structure of the board, failure to implement the decision led the employees to file a contempt of court petition. When the government appealed, the Appellate Division dismissed the appeal after hearing both parties, thus upholding the High Court’s verdict.

Advocate Md. Monirul Islam Mia stated that the verdict establishes justice for the employees who had long faced job insecurity due to their temporary and irregular status. He urged the government to take immediate steps to implement the ruling without delay.