Ten more parliamentary standing committees of Bangladesh’s 13th Jatiya Sangsad were formed on Sunday, September 6, but opposition lawmakers were once again denied committee chairmanships.
The opposition had demanded 26 percent of the chairmanships of the parliamentary standing committees. However, the demand was not accepted in the latest round of committee formations.
The ruling party has set a condition for allowing opposition lawmakers to chair parliamentary standing committees: they must first agree to participate in the special parliamentary committee on constitutional amendments.
Under the Rules of Procedure of the Bangladesh Parliament, all parliamentary standing committees must be formed before the third session of a parliament. There are a total of 50 standing committees, including 39 committees related to different ministries, while the remaining committees deal with parliamentary affairs.
Following the formation of 10 more committees on Sunday, a total of 36 standing committees have now been formed in the 13th Parliament, including 30 ministry-related committees.
So far, only one opposition lawmaker has been appointed chairman of a parliamentary standing committee—the Public Accounts Committee. No opposition MP has yet been appointed chairman of any ministry-related standing committee.
The special parliamentary committee on constitutional amendments was formed on July 13 with 12 members and is chaired by Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed. The opposition was asked to nominate five members to the committee, but it rejected the committee outright.
On Sunday, Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni separately proposed the formation and reconstitution of several parliamentary standing committees. The proposals were subsequently approved by voice vote in parliament.
The chairmen appointed to the 10 committees formed on Sunday are Abdus Salam Pintu for the Standing Committee on the Ministry of Food; Abul Khair Bhuiyan for the Committee on Youth and Sports; Munshi Rafiqul Alam for the Committee on Disaster Management and Relief; AKM Selim Reza Habib for the Committee on Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives; Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas for the Committee on Labour and Employment; Zainul Abdin Farooq for the Committee on Shipping; Khairul Kabir Khokon for the Committee on Fisheries and Livestock; Mahmuda Habiba for the Committee on Primary and Mass Education; Barkat Ullah Bulu for the Committee on Cultural Affairs; and Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan for the Committee on Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs.
Meanwhile, BNP lawmaker Shahadat Hossain from the Lakshmipur-1 constituency was appointed chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Agriculture, replacing former chairman Gayeshwar Chandra Roy.
The formation of the committees comes amid continued disagreements between the ruling party and the opposition over the distribution of committee chairmanships and opposition participation in the special parliamentary committee on constitutional amendments.
Ref: Bangladesh Media.
