Policymakers of the government yesterday delegated Law Minister Moudud Ahmed to inform the prime minister (PM) about the legality of government advisors exercising executive power.

The issue surfaced following a press report that the constitution does not allow the government

advisors to exercise any executive power. The question came to the fore following the activities of the newly-appointed adviser to the energy ministry, Mahmudur Rahman.

LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Moudud,

former minister Oli Ahmed and some other ruling party lawmakers discussed the issue at the parliament lobby yesterday.

They agreed with the press report that the constitution, indeed, does not allow any advisor executive power. Later, they assigned the law minister to brief the PM on the issue, sources said.

Meanwhile, the energy advisor yesterday faced questions about some of his executive decisions, sources said.

If Rahman had no constitutional power to take executive decisions, the two probe committees he formed on the Tengratila explosion stand invalid, some officials told Rahman yesterday.

Accordingly, the reports submitted by the committees will also lack legal backup, they added.

Rahman made no comment on these observations, sources said.

Rahman was appointed adviser to the energy ministry last month upon ouster of state minister AKM Mosharraf Hossain.

He enjoys the status of a deputy minister.

Mahmudur Rahman, who also heads the Board of Investment, started taking active decisions from the beginning, signing files and directing different authorities to take various actions.

"I have been appointed adviser by the government and I am doing my job sincerely," the energy adviser yesterday told the press at Dhaka Reporters' Unity where he faced questions on using executive power.

"The executive power lies with the minister. The prime minister herself is the minister in charge of the energy ministry and I exercise my power as delegated by her. If I am misusing my power, the prime minister will look into it," he said.

"If the government does anything illegally, the government is accountable for that," Rahman added.

The government has four other advisersJahanara Begum (adviser to primary and mass education ministry with the status of a minister), Salahuddin Kader Chowdhury (prime minister's parliamentary affairs adviser with the status of a minister), Barkatullah Bulu (adviser to commerce ministry with the status of a state minister), Reaz Rahman (adviser to foreign ministry with the status of a state minister).

Of them, Jahanara Begum has been exercising executive powers so far while the others have been functioning more or less like advisers.

Following wide-spread allegations of corruption against Jahanara Begum, the prime minister has recently asked her to refrain from taking any decisions, sources said.