Staff correspondent
The 122 ordinances promulgated in two years of the interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed were placed for discussion in the parliament in its opening session on Sunday.
The law minister, Shafique Ahmed, placed the ordinances in a single motion and the speaker, Abdul Hamid, read out the list of ordinances.
According to the constitution, every ordinance, made during a period when the parliament is dissolved, needs to be placed for discussion in the first sitting of the immediate next parliament.
The ministers concerned will place for discussion respective bills for passgage of the ordinances into laws, Shafique told New Age on Sunday, adding such bills would be placed for only the ordinances the cabinet would decide to approve.
According to the constitution, the ordinances will cease to have effect at the expiry of 30 days after they are placed in the parliament unless the parliament passes them into laws.
The expert committee formed to examine the ordinances finalised its report on January 18, recommending only 45 ordinances out of the total 122 for approval.
‘The committee has finalised its report, which will be placed in the cabinet soon,’ Shafique told reporters after a meeting of the committee in the ministry on January 18.
The committee recommended approval for only 45 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 some ordinances would be left for the parliament to decide and the rests would be scrapped. He said recommendations were unanimous.
According to him, the committee also recommended amendments to some of the ordinances before their approval by the parliament.
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 had 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 having no urgency to run day-to-day affairs of the government, he said.
The High Court, meanwhile, ruled that 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 bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice M Abu Tariq 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.
The expert 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 18.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
