Kalimullah served as a professor of the Department of Public Administration of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Dhaka.[2]
Kalimullah as chairman of the National Election Observation Council was set to observe the 2006 election, where he raised questions about the voter list.[3]
Kalimullah is the chairperson of Jatiya Nirbachon Parjabekkhon Parishad, also known as JANIPOP, an election monitoring group.[4][5]
On 1 June 2017, Kalimullah was appointed vice chancellor of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur.[6] His term as vice chancellor was controversial, and teachers at the university campaigned for his removal.[6][7] He was allegedly absent from campus 478 days out of 631 days.[8]
Kalimullah was awarded the rank of major by the Bangladesh National Cadet Corps.[9] He is a former editor of The Asian Age.[10]
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party opposed his appointment as an observer for the 2018 general election as they alleged he had links to a particular party and pointed out that his uncle, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, was a minister of the Awami League government.[4] Kalimullah generated some controversy after taking an online class at 3:20 am.[11] On 13 March 2021, a group of teachers at the university published a 790-page report on corruption by Kalimullah at a press conference.[12] The University Grants Commission, in an investigation, found irregularities against Kalimullah and called for action against him.[13] He challenged the probe in court unsuccessfully.[14] In March 2021, the local unit of Bangabandhu Parishad declared him unwanted on the university campus.[15] On 9 June 2021, Kalimullah was replaced by Md. Hasibur Rashid as vice chancellor of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, at the end of his four-year term.[6][16]