Shapan Chowkidar, a lawyer who is visually impaired, and four other human rights and disability rights organisations, BLAST, Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), Action on Disability and Development (ADD) and the National Council of Disabled Women (NCDW), as well as Dr. Ridwanul Hoque, of Dhaka University’s Department of Law filed a public interest petition in the High Court.

They sought  the following orders from the Court:

To direct the Government to show cause

1) why an order will not be passed directing the respondents to allow citizens of Bangladesh with disabilities to appear for the BCS and JS examinations;

2) why respondents would not be directed to apply their discretionary powers and to perform their duties, as prescribed by law, to identify cadre posts within the BCS and the Judicial Service appropriate for citizens with disabilities as well as to ensure the hiring of citizens with disabilities for these posts; and

3) why an order would not be passed declaring the general application of Schedule III of the Bangladesh Civil Service (Age, Qualification and Examination for Direct Recruitment) Rules, 1982 (the Rules), without consideration for the fundamental rights of citizens with disabilities, inconsistent with Part III of the Constitution.

Lawyers for the petitioners argued that despite repeated statements by the Prime Minister regarding quotas in public employment for persons with disabilities, public functionaries had taken no initiative to accommodate persons with disabilities in the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) or the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). They challenged Schedule III of the Rules, which contains mandatory physical fitness standards for BCS examination candidates, and specifically excludes, among others, persons with visual impairments. They also highlighted the Disability Welfare Act, 2001, which confers a duty upon public functionaries to create equal employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in appropriate services in the public sector, statutory corporations and in local government authorities (section 6(2) and Schedule ‘Cha’). They further argued that depriving persons with disabilities of the opportunity to appear in BCS and JSC examinations, and thereby preventing them from joining these services, violates their fundamental rights to equality, equality of opportunity and the right to a profession, as guaranteedd in Articles  27, 29 and 40 of the Constitution.

On 25 March 2010, the High Court directed the President and Secretary of the National Disability Welfare Committee to submit a report within thirty days on the steps taken to implement their obligations under Section 6(2) and Schedule ‘Cha’ of the Disability Welfare Act, 2001.