Supreme Court drops leave to appeal against cancellation of admission of Viqarunnisa students

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has set aside the leave to appeal filed against a High Court judgment, upholding the cancellation of admission of 169 students of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College (VNSC) in the capital.

A three-judge appellate division headed by Chief Justice Obaidul Hasan gave the order on Sunday, BSS reported.

Mohammad Rafiul Islam, lawyer for the VNSC director, told reporters that “therefore, there is no legal obstacle for the school authorities to admit students from the waiting list into the 169 vacant seats.”

A 29-page verdict by a division bench of the High Court comprising Justice JBM Hasan and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil was published on the Supreme Court website on June 27.

The verdict states that the admission of 169 first-year students of the school was carried out by avoiding the age norms set by the government.

The Education Ministry has ordered an investigation into the entire admission process and recommended introducing a better admission process and finding the culprits, according to the verdict. Also, action will be taken against the identified criminals in accordance with the law, it added.

For this purpose, the Secretary of the Ministry of Secondary and Higher Education was asked to form a three-member inquiry committee.

On January 14, guardians of two students seeking admission to Class 1 filed a petition alleging that age standards were not being met.

The school authorities cancelled the admission of 169 students and on March 6, the High Court ordered them to accept vacant seats within a week from the waiting list.

The parents of the students whose admission was revoked appealed this order to the Appellate Division.

A separate appeal has been filed for 120 students whose admissions were cancelled.

The High Court announced the verdict on May 21 after a joint hearing on the rules.

An application for leave to appeal was filed after the copy of that judgment was published. The Supreme Court dismissed the hearing, quashing the appeal on Sunday.