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JS to exist, but not in session

Polls within Jan 24, PM tells top bureaucrats; cabinet to function but won't take any major policy decision

M Abul Kalam Azad
Amid confusion over the polis-time administration, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the general election would be held without dissolving the current parliament and the cabinet.
She added the polls would be held within the last 90 days of the parliament's tenure, which ends on January 24.
But the prime minister did not specify the polls date, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told journalists after the PM's meeting with the secretaries at the Cabinet Division.
In the meeting, Hasina said the House would not be in session and the cabinet would take no important policy decision during the 90-day timeframe (October 27 to January 24).
She also advised the secretaries to study how transition of powers takes place in other parliamentary democracies.
The main opposition BNP has been pressing for dissolving the House and restoring the non-party caretaker government system before holding the election.
Like in the past, Hasina in yesterday's meeting rejected the demand, saying polls would be held under the constitutional framework. She also directed the secretaries to prepare themselves for the election.
Confusion has been running high for the past several months over the role of members of parliament and cabinet in case the election is held under the present administration.
Hasina, also president of the ruling Awami League, recently told the nation that parliament would be dissolved before the election.
But she changed her mind after consulting with her cabinet colleagues and party leaders over the last few days, sources in the AL told The Daily Star.
In the meeting, the premier asked the secretaries to finish speedily all the important and emergency development work.
"We are fully prepared to work under the system that the prime minister explained in the meeting," the cabinet secretary said.
He added that the PM said all these to them yesterday and also on various occasions in the past. "She explained the concept to the secretaries so that they are clear about it."
In her sixth meeting with the secretaries since taking office in 2009, Hasina yesterday sought all-out cooperation for continuation of the democratic system and developmentactivities.
During the election time, Mosharraf said, power of the ministers might be delegated to the secretaries so that the administrative and development activities were not hampered.
"There will be an arrangement so that there won't be a need for amending the laws. It can remain between the secretaries and the ministries. Secretaries can make decisions and the ministers can later approve those."
Asked whether the government could appoint more cabinet members during the transition period, Mosharraf said the PM said nothing about it. "These are not the issues for discussion with the secretaries."
In the meeting, 58 secretaries were present. Of them, 23 spoke on various issues. HT Imam, PM's public administration affairs adviser, was also present.
Usually, these meetings have no agenda and the PM and the secretaries talk openly on various issues.
Hasina said there had been visible development in all sectors during her government's tenure and that it needed to continue.
One secretary told the meeting that the AL should be re-elected for the continuation of the ongoing development activities, sources said.
The PM thanked government officials for playing an important role
in combating militancy and terrorism and ensuring public safety.
"If voted to power again, my government will ensure decentralisation of power by further strengthening the local government system," Mosharraf quoted the PM as saying.
Hasina noted that the implementation rate of the cabinet's decisions was 93 percent during her government tenure compared to 80 percent during the BNP-Jamaat alliance rule.
She directed the senior bureaucrats to implement the social safety net programmes in a better integrated way.
Effective monitoring of law and order, ensuring women's participation in policy level and promotion of government officials were also discussed in the three-and-a-half-hour meeting.
The secretaries thanked Hasina for her "liberal policy" in giving promotion.
On solving the housing problem of the government employees, Hasina said unused government land could be utilised in this regard.