The cabinet yesterday approved in principle the draft of The Civil Aviation Law, 2016 replacing the existing Civil Aviation Ordinance of 1960.
The approval came at a regular cabinet meeting held at the secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said according to the new law, if any foreign aircraft intentionally violates Bangladesh air space, then the persons responsible for the offense would have to suffer a maximum of seven years’ imprisonment and minimum two-year imprisonment or Tk2 crore as fine.
He, however, said in case of operating flight in a risky way, the pilots concerned would have to face a maximum of five years’ jail or a fine of Tk1 crore.
According to the existing civil aviation act, the punishment for pilot violating the law is one-year imprisonment with a fine of Tk5 lakh.
The cabinet secretary said: “The draft civil aviation act also contained the security and safety of passenger. If any aircraft crashes the passengers will be awarded compensation.”
He said the cabinet also endorsed in principle the draft of the The Public Procurement (4th amendment) Bill, 2016. The cabinet has also given its approval to the draft of The Bangladesh Nursing and Midwifery Council Law, 2016.
Shafiul said: “The draft of Public Procurement Act was approved keeping the provision for a government to tender float up to Tk3 crore instead of existing Tk2 crore under the Limited Tender Method (LTM).
