Cancellation of 27th BCS 1st viva voce exams valid

11 July 2010, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the HC verdict that had declared valid cancellation of results of the disputed first viva voce of the 27th Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examinations, 2005. A six-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim dismissed three petitions seeking leave to appeal against the HC verdict. The petitions were filed by some of those who had passed the first viva voce, During the tenure of the caretaker government, the Public Service Commission on September 1, 2007, cancelled the viva voce results. The cancellation followed charges of gross irregularities of the PSC on several occasions, especially question leak and corruption centring the viva voce in which 3,567 candidates succeeded. On July 3, 2008, the HC in a verdict declared cancellation of the viva voce results legal. An HC bench comprised of Justice MA Rashid and Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam gave the verdict, rejecting three writ petitions challenging legality of the PSC action. The petitions were filed by 209 of the candidates who had passed the first viva voce. The SC yesterday also disposed of with observations three leave to appeal petitions filed by the government concerning two other HC verdicts. The verdicts declared illegal the second viva voce of the 27th BCS examinations, and directed the government to recruit 845 candidates who had passed the first viva voce, and filed writ petitions against holding of the second viva voce. The observations could not be known immediately. The PSC held the second viva voce in 2007 in which 3,239 candidates came out successful. Following separate writ petitions, an HC bench comprised of Justice Md Miftah Uddin Choudhury and Justice Abu Bakar Siddiquee passed the verdicts on November 11 last year and January 26 this year . The HC bench declared illegal the PSC action of holding the second viva voce. But it observed that the jobs of those who had passed the second viva voce and joined services will not be affected. The government in March this year filed the three leave to appeal petitions with the SC. Additional Attorney General Murad Reza told this correspondent that following the SC order, those who succeeded in the second viva voce and joined services will remain unaffected. Dr M Zahir, barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud, Abdul Matin Khasru and Anisul Huq argued for the writ petitioners.