The government has appointed 96 more candidates who had long been deprived despite passing the 27th Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination.

The Ministry of Public Administration issued a gazette notification on Wednesday appointing them to different BCS cadres following recommendations by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC).

Earlier, on December 18 last year, the ministry appointed 673 candidates from the 27th BCS nearly two decades after they won a prolonged legal battle.

The newly appointed officials have been asked to join their respective cadre-controlling ministries or divisions by May 18. If no further instruction is issued by the authorities concerend, they must join on that date.

According to the notification, failure to join within the stipulated time will be considered as unwillingness to accept the appointment and the appointment order will stand cancelled.

The notification also said the appointments will be considered effective retrospectively from the date the first appointment notification for their batch was issued in order to preserve their seniority.

Their notional seniority will remain effective from the joining date mentioned in the original batch notification. However, they will not be entitled to any arrear financial benefits as a result of the retrospective effect.

The results of the first viva voce examination of the 27th BCS were published on January 21, 2007, during the BNP-led government, where 3,567 candidates passed.

Later, on June 30 that year, the then military-backed caretaker government cancelled the viva results over allegations of irregularities and corruption during the state of emergency.

The successful candidates challenged the cancellation in the High Court, but on July 3, 2008, the court upheld the government’s decision.

The petitioners later filed a leave-to-appeal petition with the Appellate Division against the verdict.