The third Section 36 application filed by the EPD Team with a DRPA district committees generated Bangladesh’s first-ever decision on a Section 36 application by a DRPA district committee. The Ministry of Public Administration had issued circular No. 05.00.0000.170.22.015.12-169 on May 28, 2012, authorizing job applicants with disabilities up to 32 years old to apply for government posts that required applicants to be 30 years old or younger. But when the applicant, Md. Mehedi Hassan, had attempted to apply for a job announced in the daily Ittefaq on July 24, 2019, which was limited to applicants 30 years old or younger, he was prevented from submitting his application through the online application portal provided given his age, effectively ignoring the Public Administration Ministry’s May 28, 2012 circular, which was still in force. The Kushtia DRPA district committee decided on September 30, 2019 that Mr. Hassan’s rights recognized under DRPA Sections 16(1)(jha) and (Da) to non-discrimination in public and private sector employment and to receive reasonable accommodations in the area of employment, respectively. Therefore, the committee resolved to issue a letter to the government department that posted the job announcement to request that they take appropriate measures to remedy their failure to enforce the May 28, 2012 circular in Mr. Hassan’s favor.
On September 22, 2019, Prottasha Protibandhi Nari O Shishu Unnyan (Prottasha) presented the fourth Section 36 application generated through USAID's Expanding Participation of People with Disability (EPD) program on behalf of Md. Nur Alam, who is blind and seeking relief in a land dispute. Prottasha's Umma Kulsum, a nominated member of the Rangpur district DRPA committee, raised Mr. Alam's application at the committee's third recorded meeting on November 11, 2019. Nevertheless, the committee has taken no action on Alam's application.
The second Section 36 application supported by the EPD Team was filed in Kishoreganj and resulted in Bangladesh’s first-ever hearing on a Section 36 application by a DRPA district committee. The application was filed on July 4, 2019, with Md. Kamruzzaman Khan, Deputy Director of the District Social Services Office in Kishoreganj, and ex officio secretary of the district committee. On August, 1 2019, the Kishoreganj DRPA district committee held Bangladesh’s first reported hearing in the matter of a complaint for compensation filed pursuant to DRPA Section 36. Mr. Sarwer Morshed Chowdhury (District Commissioner of Kishoreganj) presided over the meeting. View Jugantor's report of the hearing here.
A second hearing on this matter was held on August 21, 2019, and a four-person investigation sub-committee was formed. Their investigation report was due within 30 days of the second hearing. View the Kishoreganj Journal's report of this hearing here.
The applicant, Md. Mosharaf Mia, is 18 years old and has an intellectual disability covered by the DRPA. He sought BDT 670,000 (approx. USD 8,170) in damages for rights violations relating to allegations of physical abuse. A criminal case was also registered at Tarail police station on charges of attempted murder and serious injury. The incident at the center of the application was first reported in the Kishoreganj Journal on June 6, 2019 here. The story was also reported by BanglaNews24.com and the Dhaka Tribune.
