Bangladesh Top Court Scales Back Job Quota That Sparked Unrest

Bangladesh's Supreme Court scaled back a quota system for civil service jobs on Sunday following weeks of violent protests by students. However, it stopped short of scrapping the reservation policy entirely.

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told a news agency that the Supreme Court deemed the High Court order bringing back the quotas “illegal”. In its verdict, the top court ordered 93 percent of government jobs to be allocated on the basis of merit, keeping aside 7 percent for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971 and other categories.

Meanwhile, authorities extended a nationwide curfew and granted police "shoot-on-sight" orders to quell the violence and clashes that led to the deaths of at least 133 people. Soldiers are patrolling cities across Bangladesh after riot police failed to restore order, while a nationwide internet blackout since Thursday has drastically restricted the flow of information to the outside world.

The Supreme Court was due to decide next month on the legality of the recently reintroduced scheme that reserves more than half of government jobs for select applicants, but brought forward its verdict as the civil strife intensified. It decided that a lower bench's order last month to reintroduce the scheme was "illegal", Attorney General A.M. Amin Uddin said.

The ruling curtailed the number of reserved jobs, from 56 percent of all positions to seven percent, but fell short of meeting protester demands. It reserved five percent of all government jobs for the children of "freedom fighters" from Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war against Pakistan, down from 30 percent.

One percent was reserved for tribal communities, and another one percent for people with disabilities or identifying as third gender under Bangladeshi law. The remaining 93 percent of positions would be decided on merit, the court ruled.

After issuing its verdict on contentious civil service hiring rules, “The court has asked the students to return to class,” said Shah Monjurul Hoque, who represented two students in a case seeking to overturn the quota scheme.