It has been more than a month and twenty days, and the investigation committee has not yet submitted its report regarding the allegations of a question leak in the Biman recruitment test for the position of Ground Service Assistant.
The exams were delayed by one hour in all ten centres where approximately 33,000 candidates appeared for 100 Ground Service Assistant positions on September 1.
Examinees cited the announcement of the unprecedented one-hour delay just 15 minutes before the start of the exam as the reason for the question leak.
On the evening of the incident, a two-member investigation committee was hastily formed by Biman Director (Admin) Siddikur Rahman. They were supposed to submit their report within a week, although more than seven weeks have now passed.
The two-member committee includes Director of Customer Services Matiul Islam Chowdhury and General Manager of Security Mohammad Islam.
On October 22, the investigation committee claimed to Dhaka Tribune that the investigation was in the final stage, and the report would be submitted soon.
On the same day, Biman Director of Administration Siddiqur Rahman told Dhaka Tribune: "We are waiting for the probe report. The committee has been working on all the issues."
The reason for the delay in submitting the report is that one member of the inquiry committee had contracted dengue fever, he said.
The Biman authorities formed an inquiry committee into the non-conducting of exams at one centre even as candidates complained of question leakage, according to the inquiry committee's terms of reference.
In the immediate aftermath of the exams, this Dhaka Tribune reporter visited at least three centres, including the Badda Alatunnessa Higher Secondary School, Uttara High School and College (Sector-7), and Uttaran Girls High and College (Sector-6) to inquire into the allegations. Protests by examinees demanding a test postponement were noticed at all three centres.
In response to the demands, Biman Director (Admin) Siddiqur Rahman, who was the head of the examination question preparation committee, announced the postponement of the test at Uttara High School and College.
The Additional Deputy Commissioner of DMP Uttara Division, Badrul Hasan, the Additional Deputy Commissioner of the Airport Zone, Tohidul Islam, and the Joint Secretary of the Civil Aviation Ministry (Biman and CA), Sayed Kutub, were present at the test centre.
ADC Badrul Hasan and ADC Tohidul Islam told Dhaka Tribune that they went to the centre to control the protests, and later, Biman officials announced the cancellation of the test.
Joint Secretary Sayed Kutub also confirmed their statement.
However, examinees at Uttara High School and College later learned that the recruitment test had been held at the rest of the centres.
Biman Director (Admin) Siddiqur Rahman refused to postpone the test when interviewed by Dhaka Tribune recently.
When asked about the test postponement announcement, he said that all decisions were made by Biman's Managing Director and CEO, Shafilul Azim.
However, Dhaka Tribune noted that Shafilul Azim was busy arranging a Dhaka-Narita promotional familiarization trip at the Dhaka Airport at the time and did not respond to inquiries regarding the allegations of question paper leakage and the delayed exam notice.
It is to be noted that Shafiul Azim was in charge as CEO and managing director on September 1, the day of the exam.
Later, on September 2, Siddiqur Rahman took charge as the Biman chief, as Shafilul Azim was in Japan.
The Biman Director of Administration told Dhaka Tribune that the test was delayed because they could not provide questions at the scheduled time in all the centers due to rain.
He also blamed the Uttara High School and College authorities for not holding the exam.
However, Faridduzaman, the principal of the college, said: "Regarding the delay of the test, we received an email from Kurmitola High School and College's acting principal, Abdul Khalek, at 3:39pm that day. We don't know more than that."
Abdul Khalek, who has been managing Biman test centres for over 10 years, said that 15 minutes before the start of the test, Biman's Director of Administration called him and instructed him to inform everyone about the one-hour delay due to the ongoing printing of the question paper.
"Biman Human Resources DGM Samsuddoha Akhand arrived at our centre with a question paper at 3:15pm," he added.
Dhaka Tribune obtained a copy of the phone text message Abdul Khalek sent to all test centre supervisors, where he said the test was to be delayed by an hour due to “inclement weather.”