The High Court on Sunday sought an explanation from government authorities regarding actions taken against recruiting agencies responsible for failing to send 17,777 workers to Malaysia, despite the workers completing all necessary procedures.
The top court also enquired whether the affected workers have been refunded and what progress has been made regarding their potential deployment to the Southeast Asian country.
A division bench of Justice Fahmida Quader and Justice Mubina Asaf directed the secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment and other relevant government authorities to submit a report by 27 August.
The order stems from a public interest writ petition filed after the Malaysia labour recruitment scandal.
In June last year, the court issued a rule asking why the authorities’ negligence and inaction should not be declared illegal and why the affected workers should not be refunded with interest. Authorities were also instructed to submit progress reports every three months.
Lawyers Md Tanvir Ahmed and Biplob Kumar Poddar represented the petitioners during Sunday’s hearing.
Malaysia reopened its labour market to Bangladeshi workers in August 2022, allocating a quota of over 532,000. Of these, 476,000 workers travelled to Malaysia by 2024.
However, around 17,777 workers failed to depart after recruiting agencies missed the 31 May ticketing deadline set by Malaysian authorities.