Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC) has informed the High Court that it will not be possible to postpone the 41st Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) preliminary examination as all preparations to hold it on March 19 are complete.
The state counsel, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Bipul Bagmar, on Tuesday passed on the information to the bench of Justice Md Khasruzzaman and Justice Md Mahmud Hassan Talukder.
DAG Bipul notified the court hours after it asked him to reach out to BPSC and learn about their position in the wake of protests from BCS candidates, who are demanding postponement of the exam amid a spike in Covid-19 infections around the country.
Afterwards, the bench dismissed the writ petition, after hearing which it had sought to know BPSC’s position, which was filed by one Raihan Sultan on behalf of the BCS candidates expressing health concerns due to rise in Covid-19 cases.
This means there is no bar to hold the exam this Friday.
Also Read: 41st BCS to be held on March 19 amid Covid-19 spike
BPSC on January 13 had announced that the 41st BCS preliminary exam will be held on March 19.
With Covid-19 cases rising in recent days, candidates have been demonstrating and urging the authorities to defer the exam to a later date in line with the scheduled reopening of university dormitories on May 17. They also called for ensuring vaccination of the candidates.
Bangladesh is seeing a spike in Covid-19 cases and deaths in March. Both on Monday and Tuesday, 26 deaths and more than 1,700 cases were recorded daily, which is the highest in the last three months.
In the face of the protests, BPSC Chairman Md Sohrab Hossain on Monday told reporters that they were adamant to hold the exam on March 19 as all preparations were complete. He, however, added that hygiene guidelines would be strictly maintained during the exam.
As many as 475,000 job seekers have applied to sit for the 41st BCS exams against 2,166 cadre posts. The preliminary exams are scheduled to be held in eight divisional cities.
