High Court Issues Rule on Letter Appointing Kawsar Hasan as Chairman of Dhaka University's Sculpture Department

The High Court has issued a rule asking why the letter appointing Abu Abedin Md Kawsar Hasan as chairman of the Sculpture Department of Dhaka University's Faculty of Fine Arts should not be declared illegal and without lawful authority.

A High Court bench of Justice Sikder Mahmudhur Razi and Justice Fatema Anwar issued the rule on Thursday after a preliminary hearing of a writ petition.

On 21 September, the Dhaka University authorities appointed Kawsar Hasan as chairman of the Sculpture Department through a letter. Lala Rukh Selim, a teacher of the same department, filed the writ challenging the appointment, alleging a violation of seniority.

According to the writ petition, the outgoing chairman of the department completed a three-year term on 29 September.

The petition says that under the university's long-standing practice, the authorities inform the incumbent chairman about the appointment of the next chairman one month before the term ends, which did not happen in this case.

On 15 September, before the incumbent chairman's term ended, the academic committee of the Sculpture Department met and decided to write to the registrar asking for Lala Rukh Selim to be appointed as the new chairman on the basis of seniority.

Lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua argued for the petitioner in court, assisted by lawyers Yasir Arfat Khan and Arifur Rahman.

Jyotirmoy Barua said the rule also asks why a direction should not be given to appoint Lala Rukh Selim as chairman of the Sculpture Department.

The court asked the university's vice-chancellor, pro-vice-chancellor (administration), acting registrar and the chairman of the Sculpture Department to respond to the rule within two weeks.