Students of Jagannath University (JnU) protested for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday, demanding the cancellation of what they call unfair and unreasonable quotas.
Hundreds of students gathered and blocked the Ray Shaheb Bazar intersection for about an hour, causing heavy traffic congestion in the surrounding area.
The protests followed a High Court ruling on Thursday that declared the cancellation of the freedom fighter quota in first and second-class government jobs illegal.
The court also directed the state to file a regular appeal against the verdict.
The Appellate Division bench, led by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan, instructed six judges to file the appeals and indicated that the High Court's verdict would remain in effect until the appeal is heard.
The students' four-point demand includes:
- Maintaining merit-based recruitment by abolishing the quota system announced in 2018.
- Forming a commission to eliminate unreasonable and discriminatory quotas in all grades of government jobs and reduce quotas to a minimum level, considering only the “backward section of the citizens” as per the Constitution.
- Ensuring that the quota facility cannot be used more than once in government job recruitment exams and that vacant quota posts be filled based on merit if no eligible candidates are available.
- Taking effective measures to ensure a corruption-free, impartial, and merit-based bureaucracy.