A parliamentary watchdog has detected violation of the constitution by the government in tabling an amendment bill without taking the president’s consent, as it involves expenditure from the public exchequer.
Parliament officials say this is probably the first reported case in which a legislative proposal involving public expenditure has been placed in the current Awami League-led ninth parliament in violation of the country’s highest charter.
Minister Suranjit Sengupta told the Dhaka Tribune on Sunday that presenting a money bill – a bill that proposes additional expenditure from public funds – in parliament without the president’s approval was against the constitution.
But LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam tabled the Birth and Death Registration (Amendment) Bill 2013 in the House on April 28 without the permission of the president.
As of Sunday, the LGRD ministry could not manage the president’s consent to the bill, according to the working paper presented at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry.
The watchdog had detected the constitutional lapse on May 16 while scrutinising the draft law. Awami League MP Rahmat Ali, chairman of the 10-member committee, asked the ministry to secure the president’s nod in retrospect before it was referred back to the House in its next session starting September 12.
He said the bill had a few sections that would require the government to appoint more people at the execution level, so it involved public expenditure.
At its meeting on Sunday, the committee once again asked the LGRD ministry officials if the bill had got the president’s approval.
But according to the ministry’s working paper presented at the meeting, the Finance Division was requested to ensure getting the president’s approval. “But we are yet to get reply from the Finance Division.”
The government initiated the amendment to the Birth and Death Registration Act, which was passed by the then BNP government in 2004, as it had no provision for punishment for giving false information on birth and death.
The union parishad chairmen, mayors of pourasabhas and city corporations, presidents of the cantonment boards, and ambassadors of Bangladesh missions or officers assigned by them are in charge of registering birth and death.
While tabling the bill, Syed Ashraf said the 2004 act vested the registrars with unlimited authorities to change information on birth and death, which also must change.