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MPs' discretionary funds used without rules

Shakhawat Liton
Members of the Parliament (MPs) have been spending from their annual discretionary fund totalling around Tk 3 crore each fiscal year since 1992, while guidelines for the spending are yet to be formulated.
Legal experts said the rules must be made to give the expenditures legal coverage, otherwise serious questions might be raised about them.
According to the Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Allowances) Act, spending from the discretionary grants shall be subject to the conditions as may be prescribed by a committee led by the leader of the House.
But no move has yet been made, since the introduction of the fund in 1992, for making the rules that will subject the spending to questions on grounds of legality. In 1992 the government however exercised the authority that was vested in the committee, and imposed a set of conditions on the expenditure from the fund, although it did not have the jurisdiction to do so, legal experts and officials in the Parliament Secretariat said.
It had the jurisdiction to make rules putting conditions on the spending from annual discretionary grants for the president, the prime minister, ministers, state ministers, and deputy ministers as the law allows the government to do so.
But the erstwhile Parliament Secretariat on February 29, 1992 issued a circular determining conditions and policies for spending from the discretionary grants for lawmakers.
The circular signed by Abul Hashem, the then secretary to the Parliament Secretariat, stated a set of conditions for spending from the lawmakers' discretionary fund, sources in the Parliament Secretariat said.
But section 9 of the act only empowers the committee concerned led by the leader of the House, who is also the prime minister, to impose the conditions and make the policies.
Section 9 deals with formation of the committee.
It says a committee consisting the leader of the House, the finance minister, the law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister, and four other members including ministers to be nominated by the leader of the House, may make the rules by notification through official gazettes.
Contacted by The Daily Star, a number of senior officials in the Parliament Secretariat said they did not have any information about the formation of any such committee.
Asked about the spending from the fund, former comptroller and auditor general (CAG) M Hafizuddin Khan said the conditions imposed by the executive order runs counter to the law.
He said the discretionary grants arc not being spent lawfully since the committee is yet to make the rules for the spending.
"The rules must be framed to legitimise the spending," Hafizuddin, also a former adviser to a caretaker government said.
The fifth parliament in 1992 introduced the discretionary fund for lawmakers, amending the Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Allowances) Act. At the beginning, each lawmaker used to get a grant ofTk 75,000 annually, which was increased toTk 1 lakh in2003.
The lawmakers of the ninth parliament have been granted Tk 50,000 each, a half of the total amount each of them are supposed to get annually, as they were elected MPs after a half of the current financial year had past, the Parliament Secretariat officials said.
Talking to The Daily Star, eminent lawyer Shahdeen Malik said if any body challenges the circular issued by the Parliament Secretariat in the court, it might be declared void.
He said the relevant committee should make the rules as early as possible to replace the circular as the law empowers the committee to make the rules.