TDS Desk:

Most of the 227 candidates, who were denied jobs despite passing the BCS 43rd exams, can join duties, public administration ministry’s Senior Secretary Dr Md Mokhles-ur-Rahman said Thursday.

The senior secretary informed reporters about the development following a meeting with the “temporarily” excluded candidates.

Only those who committed punishable crimes will be barred from entering service, while the majority will be allowed to join, he said.

A reinvestigation into intelligence agencies’ suspicions against the 227 candidates is complete and the bureaucratic procedures necessary for publishing the final list would be completed within two-three days, Dr Md Mokhles told reporters.

Earlier on 2 January, the government issued a notification, urging the denied candidates to apply for reconsidering their exclusion status. In the notification, the government clarified that the 227 candidates were dropped on a temporary-basis, potentially due to inaccurate intelligence reports filed by NSI and DGFI.

Forty others were dropped as they missed health examinations.

On 30 December, authorities published a revised list of 43rd BCS’ gazetted officers by excluding 227 candidates “temporarily” from the previous final list. Different parties raised concerns over the previous final list of 15 October, and the government felt it urgent to restore public trust in the government recruitment processes.

As a result, 227 candidates were temporarily excluded.