Appeal against quota system denotes govt’s sincerity: Quader

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Monday said since the government is serious about the abolition of the quota system, it has appealed with the apex court.

“We have to wait until the court delivers any final judgement [on the issue]. We should skip the programmes that cause public suffering by blocking roads,” he said at a press conference held at the party president’s Dhanmondi political office in Dhaka.

On 4 July, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld a High Court order declaring the cancellation of the freedom fighter quota in government jobs illegal.

A six-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan, passed the order.

The Supreme Court also adjourned the hearing on a petition filed by the state against the High Court order and instructed the state counsel to file a leave-to-appeal petition.

Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's statement on the anti-quota movement is the statement of the Awami League.

The prime minister on Sunday dismissed the movement against the quota system in government jobs as irrational.

“I don’t think there’s any rationality for what is being done today in the name of movement by wasting study time,” she said when the central leaders of Jubo Mohila League met her at Ganabhaban on the occasion of its 22nd founding anniversary.

Referring to the recent High Court judgement against the abolition of the quota system in government jobs, Sheikh Hasina said it is not right to wage a movement against the High Court verdict as the matter is sub judice.

Over the protest by university teachers against the Prottoy pension scheme, Quader said, “There may be misunderstandings about the teachers' pension scheme. A decision has to be made in the light of reality.

“The government will not get into an argument over the issue of superiority between teachers and bureaucrats.”

University teachers across the country have continued their indefinite strike, demanding the cancellation of the Prottoy scheme.