43rd BCS: Gazette dropouts invited to apply for review

The authorities  have declared that it will receive applications if any of the 227 candidates who were dropped from the final gazette of the 43rd Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) recruitment seeks to review their exclusion. 

The public administration ministry issued a notification in this regard on Thursday, clarifying that the exclusion was made on the basis of a rigorous verification by intelligence agencies. 

“If any of the 227 candidates who have been temporarily disqualified for recruitment applies for review, it is being received. The floor for review application is open to all,” the notice added. 

The development came after a sit-in of the candidates before the secretariat on the previous day and a huge discussion on social media. 

During the sit-in, one of them told Prothom Alo, “I earned the PSC (Bangladesh Public Service Commission) recommendation after four years of efforts, including tuition and regular studies. I was overjoyed to join a new job, but then discovered I had been left out of the gazette. The  public admission ministry did not provide any reason for our exclusion.”

Another left-out candidate, seeking anonymity, alleged that they have been subjected to discrimination before joining a new job, though there has been a huge fuss about building a discrimination-free Bangladesh. 

“When there are no cases against us, why were we excluded? While our peers are joining the jobs, we are left behind only to wipe our tears,” the candidate said, demanding that they be included in the gazette.

The public administration ministry issued the gazette notification on 30 December, canceling the previous one published on 15 October. Some 168 candidates were dropped in the final gazette, raising the dropout count to 267. The 1,896 gazetted candidates have been asked to join their jobs on 15 January. 

Earlier, the BPSC recommended 2,163 candidates under the 43rd BCS on 26 December 2023. 

This is not the lone instance of exclusions during the final gazette. Some 67 candidates were dropped from the final gazette in the 41st BCS, 34 in the 40th, 61 in the 37th, 75 in the 38th, and 38 in the 36th.