Changed law okayed to give govt more power

Upazila Parishads
Changed law okayed to give govt more power
The Cabinet on Monday approved amendments to the upazila parishad law, proposing a provision for empowering the government to declare vacant any position of chairman or vice-chairman if the other members of the council express no-confidence in him/her.
The LGRD and cooperatives ministry placed a draft of the amendments to the Upazila Parishad (Repealed Act Re-Introduction and Amendment) Act 2009 at the weekly Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the secretariat.
‘The draft proposes that the government can declare vacant any position of the upazila chairman or vice-chairman through a gazette notification if other members of the council express no-confidence,’ the prime minister’s press secretary, Abul Kalam Azad, told reporters after the meeting.
He said that the Election Commission, as per the proposed amendments, would be able to frame rules and regulations for settling election disputes and also for operation of the Election Tribunal and the Election Appeal Tribunal.
The government’s move to change the law comes at a time when the upazila chairmen and vice-chairmen of 481 upazilas across the country have been rallying to take over the local administration, now virtually run by the upazila nirbahi officers, for the last 20 months.
The general secretary of the Bangladesh Upazila Parishad Association, Badiuzzaman, termed the proposed amendments ‘black laws’ which showed disrespect to elected representatives.
‘We will protest against such amendments through our association,’ Badiuzzaman, also chairman of Nalitabari upazila in Sherpur, told New Age.
On October 2 the upazila chairmen and vice-chairmen gave the government time until November 30 to make the upazila parishads functional, and threatened to take to the streets if nothing was done.
Leaders of the Bangladesh Upazila Parishad Association, Bangladesh Chairman-Vice-Chairman Oikya Parishad, Bangladesh Vice-Chairman Samannay Parishad and Bangladesh Upazila Vice-Chairman Parishad at a joint press conference announced the deadline to press home their demands, which include placing all employees and officials of the concerned departments at the upazila level under their authority.
They want the upazila parishads to function under the full control of the elected representatives as per the constitutional provision.
Local officials of all 13 departments, including the UNOs, should be subject to the authority of the upazila chairmen as per the law in order to strengthen the democratic system, said the president of the Bangladesh Upazila Parishad Association, Harun-ur Rashid, who is also the chairman of Dumki upazila in Patuakhali.

Courtesy of NewAge