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Bar on Bill Power

Irked BNP MPs mull quitting JS body

ShakhawatLiton
Irked by the law ministry’s instruction, the ruling BNP lawmakers are considering resigning from the parliamentary standing committee on private members’ bills and resolutions, as the effectiveness of the body has come into question following the restriction.
The main opposition Awami League lawmakers who arc on the committee are likely to support the BNP members’ action protesting the move to make the committee ineffective, sources said.
The BNP deputies termed the recent instruction that asked them to take permission from Prime Minister Khaleda Zia or the party's parliamentary wing before placing bills in the House an embargo on
their freedom as private members.
Tite instruction bars them from working independently in parliament as private members; so, there is no need to continue with the activities of the parliamentary body until the embargo is withdrawn, they said.
"First, we'll give a deadline to the law ministry to withdraw the instruction. If the ministry doesn't respond positively, we might resign from the committee,’' BNP MP and member of the committee Abu Hena tokrihe Daily Star yesterday.
Commitlee member and AL lawmaker AKM Jahangir Hossain said the committee has already become Ineffective, as it has not held any meeting in the last two months. "If the committee can’t function effectively, we must resign from it, "he added.
The rules of procedure considers all lawmakers, except ministers, as private members of the Jatiya Sangsad (IS) and allows them to place any bill in the House without permission.
In line with the rules, ruling BNP and Jatiya Party lawmakers have piloted several bills proposing a number of amendments to the constitution. aiming to help strengthen the parliamentary democracy, promote good governance and make the JS more effective.
The bills are aimed at checking frequent House boycotts and 'embarrassment’ of the Supreme Court judges, ensuring individual freedom of party lawmakers and consolidating the positions of the speaker and tire deputy speaker. The parliamentary body has recommended allowing the lawmakers to place the bills in parliament.
Members of the committee at a meeting on January 4 threatened to resign in protest against what they said was the speaker's negative attitude towards the bills.
They also decided that the committee would not discuss any new bill until the old ones are tabled in parliament. Since then, the committee has not sat again, sources said.
In the wake of a wide resentment among lawmakers, Speaker Jamir Uddin Sircar did agree to allow the bills to be placed in the House in the current session. But, the law ministry's recent instruction has again made it uncertain.
Talking to The Daily Star, Sircar said it will not be possible to place any private members' bill in parliament during the current session due to a lack of time. "I hope it'll be possi-
ble to place the bills in the next session."
Committee member and BNP deputy Abu Yousuf Khalilur Rahman said there is no such provision in the rules of procedure for taking prior permission from the prime minister to place private members' bills. "I was not in Dhaka for the last few days. I'll look into the letter circulated by the speaker. Then I'll be clear on the issue," he told The Daily Star.
Lambasting the instruction, BNP MP Abu Hena said he is very unhappy at the fate of his bill becoming uncertain.
He said, "It depends on the government whether it passes any private members' bill or not. But it should at least allow the private members to place their bills in parliament."
"It'll not be possible to work as private members in parliament if we're forced to follow the instruction," he noted.