The High Court on Thursday said that innocent children cannot be subjected to negligence due to the inefficiency and misdeeds of the authorities concerned.
In its full text verdict of the case regarding irregularities in 169 first graders' admissions into Viqarunnisa Noon School and College (VNSC), the court said if this malpractice is allowed it will amount to putting a premium on the perpetration of misdoing.
"A court of law cannot be a part of any premium on the misdoing perpetrated by any person. It is the established principle that equity will not allow a wrongdoer to profit
by a wrong"."Further, if this misdoing is allowed, both the 169 students and also those in the waiting list, shall get a negative message at the very beginning of their life," the HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil said in the 29-page full text of judgement which was released recently.
Earlier on May 21 this year, the bench had delivered the verdict following two separate writ petitions filed over the issue.
One of the petitions was filed by guardians of two aspirant students challenging the legality of 169 students of class one into VNSC, saying that they were admitted into the institution breaching the age limit policy.
Another petition was filed by guardians of several students challenging the legality of the cancellation of admission of 169 students.
In the full text, the HC upheld the decision of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) to cancel the admissions of 169 students of class one, saying their admissions violated rules.
The HC in the full text of judgement ordered the DSHE and VNSC to fill up the vacant seats from the waiting list serially within 15 days from date.
"Before parting with the matter, we are of the view that the admission process conducted by the directorate keeping some lacuna, in particular, without setting any program in the software for filtering the candidates in terms of prescribed age limit; taking decision on December 2, 2023 to admit 169 ineligible students and other irregularities, have to be looked into by an enquiry in order to detect the perpetrators to protect the recurrence of such incident in future, so that the innocent children cannot be subjected due to such negligence, inefficiency and misdeeds of the authority," the HC judges said in the full text of verdict.
The court ordered the secretary at the secondary and higher education division of the education ministry to constitute a three- member committee headed by an officer of his ministry not below the rank of additional secretary; a member from the secondary and higher secondary education board, Dhaka and another, an information technology (IT) expert from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
The enquiry committee will make suggestions for introducing better admission procedure and to find out the perpetrators.
The secretary at the secondary and higher education division has been ordered to take action against the perpetrators to be identified, in accordance with law.
VNSC's lawyer Muhammad Rafiul Islam told The Daily Star yesterday that students from waiting list were not admitted into VNSC as guardians of the 169 students have officially informed that they will move an appeal before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the HC verdict.
