Provision is there, but not discussed

Chief Whip ASM Feroz yesterday said deals signed with different countries over the years couldn't be discussed in parliament because of “valid reasons”.

In this regard, he cited Article 145-Ka of the constitution which stipulated that all treaties signed with foreign countries would be placed before the president and the president would take measures to place those in parliament.

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Feroz was reading out a written statement at a media briefing at the Jatiya Sangsad Media Centre.

The briefing was organised a day after Transparency International Bangladesh disclosed the findings of its study titled “10th Parliament: 7th to 13th Session”. It found that no bilateral treaties were discussed in parliament.

The German-based organisation recommended that all agreements, including those signed with India during the prime minister's recent visit, should be discussed in the House.

Asked why the treaties were not discussed in the House, the chief whip said: “How would the lawmakers discuss the deals if those are not placed in parliament?”

He, however, didn't blame President Abdul Hamid for not sending the agreements to parliament.

Terming the TIB's study “imaginary and motivated”, the chief whip alleged that the study was aimed at “tarnish the image of parliament and all the MPs deliberately”.

Feroz protested the study and called upon the TIB not to come up with such “negative and motivated” reports in future. 

“There are many problems in the country of 16 crore people. But instead of carrying out research on those, the TIB is involved in counting how many times the MPs used unparliamentary language. This can't be the job of an organisation,” he said.

About the quorum crisis in parliament and the resulting loss of public money, he said although there was a minor quorum crisis, there was no need to present the issue negatively.

On the wastage of public money due to the quorum crisis, Feroz said the TIB's statistics were completely “fictitious”.

“In fact there are no extra expenses other than the bills for lighting the House chamber when parliament is in session,” he claimed.

Whips Shahiduzzaman Sarkar and Iqbalur Rahim were present.

Sources at the Parliament Secretariat told The Daily Star that different reports, including those from the offices of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Public Service Commission and Information Commission, submitted to the president were placed in the House duly.

Talking to this correspondent yesterday, TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said their study was not aimed at undermining parliament and the lawmakers.

“We rather wanted to find ways how to make parliament more effective,” he added.

TIB FINDINGS

The graft watchdog in its report said 59 international agreements were signed in 2015-'16 fiscal year, but those were not placed and discussed in parliament.

Effectiveness of the current parliament was still questionable as the main opposition Jatiya Party played a dual role both in the House and the government, read the report.

The use of unparliamentary language by the ruling Awami League and JP lawmakers to criticise their political rivals outside parliament was notable, the TIB study said, adding that the MPs used unparliamentary language at least 2,101 times.

The seventh to 13th session of parliament saw 103 sittings between September 2015 and December 2016.