No new law scrapping Bangabandhu period ones

The cabinet has decided not to formulate new laws scrapping the old ones either enacted or promulgated from January 1, 1972 to August 5, 1975 during the rule of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

It decided that those laws and ordinances would only be amended.

The decision came at the weekly cabinet meeting held at the Bangladesh Secretariat, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. The PM joined the meeting virtually from the Gono Bhaban.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said it was a groundbreaking decision of the cabinet.

Describing the reasons for the decision, he said the High Court in an observation in February 2013 said all necessary ordinances promulgated from August 15, 1975 to 1979 and from 1982-1986 would be changed into laws while the rest would be scrapped.

He said if the old laws, enacted from 1972 to August 15, 1975, are scrapped by new laws due to the necessity of time then it would not be possible for anyone to fully understand how was the government under the leadership of Bangabandhu after the country's independence and how was the state management of that time.

If these laws remained effective, then those who would go for research and do their works on political science and state management would be able to clearly understand the then government seeing those.

"They will be able to understand how the state infrastructure was developed and how the state and the administration were run," the cabinet secretary said.

Besides, the cabinet gave its final approval to the House Building Finance Corporation Order (Amendment) 2020 to increase its authorised capital and paid up capital, and expand its area of providing services.

The original law was promulgated in 1973, during Bangabandhu's rule, through an order.

With the amendment, the authorised capital of the corporation will be Tk 1,000 crore while the paid up capital Tk 500 crore.

The cabinet also approved in principle the Bankers' Book Evidence Bill 2020 to replace the old Bankers' Book Evidence Act 1891.

The cabinet secretary said this law will be a new one as the ground reality has changed a lot given the reality of 1891.

He said this law has been sent to the legislative division for vetting and it will be placed before the cabinet again for final approval.

The cabinet also gave the go-ahead to the draft of National Food and Nutrition Policy 2020.