The High Court (HC) has directed the government to clarify what actions have been taken against recruiting agencies responsible for failing to send 17,777 workers to Malaysia.
The court also inquired whether the affected workers—who had completed all necessary procedures but were ultimately unable to travel—have been refunded their money, and what progress has been made regarding their potential deployment.
The HC bench of Justice Fahmida Quader and Justice Mubina Asaf issued the order on Saturday, instructing the Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment and other concerned authorities to submit a report by 27 August.
The directive followed a hearing where the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare admitted that recruiting agencies were responsible for the failure.
The case originated from a public interest writ petition filed in the aftermath of the Malaysia labour recruitment scandal. On 24 June last year, the High Court had issued a rule questioning why the authorities' negligence, which devastated the lives of the affected workers, should not be declared illegal. It also asked why the government should not be ordered to refund the workers' payments with interest.
The court had previously ordered the authorities to submit progress reports every three months on developments in the matter.
Lawyers Md Tanvir Ahmed and Biplob Kumar Poddar represented the petitioners during the hearing.
Since Malaysia reopened its labour market to Bangladesh in August 2022, it allocated a quota of over 532,000 workers. While around 476,000 workers successfully migrated in 2024, approximately 17,777 were left stranded as recruiting agencies failed to provide airline tickets before the 31 May deadline set by Malaysia.
