Shahiduzzaman
The expert committee formed to examine the ordinances made in the past two years on Sunday finalised its report recommending that 30 ordinances should be approved, 53 should be scrapped and 39 others should be left for the parliament to decide.
‘The expert committee has finalised its report, which will be placed in the cabinet soon,’ the law minister, Shafique Ahmed, told reporters after a meeting of the expert committee in the ministry on Sunday.
He said the committee had recommended no blanket ratification of all the 122 ordinances promulgated in two years.
The committee recommended approval for only 30 ordinances which are related to elections and some others, including finance ordinances, which were required for routine functions of the government, said a member on the committee.
He said 39 ordinances would be left for the parliament to decide and 53 ordinances would be scrapped, adding that the recommendations were unanimous.
According to the law minister, who presided over the meeting, the committee recommended a number of ordinances not to be approved by the parliament.
A member on the committee told New Age, ‘We have recommended that a number of ordinances should be scrapped.’
According to the constitution, the ordinances will need to be placed in the parliament in 30 days from the date of its first sitting and the ordinances which would not be placed in the parliament will cease to have effect at the expiry of the 30-day period, he said.
The ordinances, which will be placed before the parliament, will also cease to have effect at the expiry of 30 days after they are placed in the parliament, unless the parliament passes them as laws, he further said.
According to him, the committee also recommended amendments to some of the ordinances before their approval by the parliament.
The committee also listed some other ordinances for further scrutiny by the parliament.
The parliament will decide whether they should be passed as laws, the minister said.
After the dissolution of the eighth parliament in 2006, a total of 122 ordinances have so far been promulgated.
Three of them were made in 2006, 42 in 2007, 72 in 2008 and the rest five were promulgated immediately before the takeover of the Awami League-led alliance government.
Explaining the recommendations of the committee, one of its members said the committee recommended no approval for most of the ordinances as a caretaker government has no constitutional authority to promulgate such ordinances.
According to the constitution, during a caretaker government, the president can promulgate no ordinances making any provisions not directly related to elections or have no urgency to run day-to-day affairs of the government, he said.
He also referred to two verdicts of the High Court which ruled the interim government had no powers to promulgate any ordinance making provisions not directly related to holding elections or the government’s day-to-day affairs.
The High Court on July 13 first came up with the observation in its verdict on a writ petition filed by the Marriage Registrars’ Association president, Peerjada Syed Shariatullah, and five other marriage registrars challenging the legality of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Ordinance 2008.
The court also cancelled the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Ordinance, promulgated on February 18, 2008.
Presided over by the law minister, the meeting was attended by Rafique-ul-Huq, former attorney general Mahmudul Islam, M Zahir, attorney general Mahbubey Alam, Azmalul Hossain, Taufique Nawaz and Awami League lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh. The committee was formed immediately after the takeover of the new government. The committee members were asked to make individual recommendations and give opinions on the matter and all the reports were discussed at the formal meetings on Monday January 9,12 and then on Sunday.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
