Dhaka: The Supreme Court on Sunday gave approval to 111 physicians of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) to file an appeal against a High Court order that declared the recruitment process that they had gone through at BSMMU illegal.

A five-member Appellate Division bench, led by chief justice SK Sinha, issued the order.

The SC also asked the physicians to submit a concise statement of their appeal within four weeks.

The hearing of the appeal will be held after submission of the statement.

Attorney General Mahabubey Alam stood for the BSMMU while senior lawyers Dr Kamal Hossain and Rokunuddin Mahmud stood for the physicians.

Earlier on 29 August, the SC sought opinion on how the 111 qualified physicians of BSMMU who had been appointed in 2006 can be retained in service.

On 26 May, 2005, the BSMMU at its 20th Syndicate meeting decided to create 200 posts of medical officer.

As per the decision, a circular was issued on October 18, 2005 for the recruitment.

Iqbal Arslan, the then secretary general of Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad, filed a writ petition with the HC challenging the legality of the circular.

In January 2006, the HC stayed the recruitment process and issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain as to why the recruitment advertisement should not be declared illegal.

Following a petition filed by the BSMMU, the High Court vacated the stay order asking them to keep the number of newly recruited physicians under 200.

On 1 March, 2006, the university authorities appointed 194 physicians and made the service of 174 of them permanent in 2008.

During the final hearing on the rule, the HC on 14 December, 2010, declared the recruitment process of BSMMU illegal.

Some 170 physicians later filed a petition with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, seeking a stay order on the HC verdict and filed a leave-to-appeal petition with the SC in 2011.

On 22 February 2016, the Appellate Division dismissed the leave-to-appeal petition of the physicians.

Finally, 111 physicians filed a review petition over the matter, one of whom died later.