The Supreme Court has upheld the High Court’s order that allows Notre Dame College, Holy Cross College and St Joseph College to hold admission tests in order to enrol students in their HSC programme.
The Appellate Division’s Chamber Judge Justice Hasan Foez Siddique heard the case yesterday but did not issue an order, which means the High Court order remains effective allowing the colleges to hold tests for admission.
The High Court earlier stayed the Ministry of Education’s decision to admit students in Class XI – first year of the HSC programme – solely based on their SSC results; the ministry published a guideline in this regard on June 1.
However, the three colleges filed a writ petition with the High Court on Sunday challenging six sections of the ministry’s HSC admission guideline; the High Court ruled in their favour on Monday which allowed the colleges to hold admission tests.
The High Court also issued a ruling asking why the six sections of the guideline would not be declared “beyond legal authority.” The court asked the education secretary, chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka and college inspector to respond to the ruling within four weeks.
The government then filed a petition with the chamber judge’s court challenging the High Court order.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stood for the state while Fida M Kamal and Barrister Tamim Hossain represented the colleges at yesterday’s hearing.