Hindu Marriage Registration
Law gets cabinet nod
The cabinet yesterday approved a draft law to register marriage of the Hindu people.
The draft of the Hindu Marriage Registration Act, 2012 will be the first law of its kind in Bangladesh once it is passed in parliament.
The registration of marriage of Hindu people, however, would be optional in the proposed act, cabinet secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters after the meeting. He said the Hindu customary marriage will remain effective and legal even after the law is enacted.
But those who want to register their marriage will get some benefits, including getting visas for their spouses and children, he added.
The cabinet also endorsed the draft of the Registration (Amendment) Act, 2012 incorporating provisions for donating land verbally by members of Hindu, Christian, Buddha and other religions paying Tk 100 as fee.
Under the existing law, which was passed in 2005, only the Muslims could register the land under Heba Dalil [verbal donation] by paying Tk 100.
The draft of the Vested Property Return (Amendment) Act, 2012 was also endorsed by the cabinet raising the timeframe of publishing the list of vested properties in the country to 300 days from existing 150 days considering the vastness of the workload.
“The list is nearly two crore pages. Of them, one crore pages have so far been printed and more time is required to complete the gigantic task,” said the cabinet secretary, adding that the timeline for release and return of vested properties have also been extended to 120 days from existing 90 days.
The government enacted the law last year.
The council of ministers approved the draft of The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2012 to set up the courts of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate and Judicial Magistrate outside district headquarters for quick disposal of disputes and cases in the rural areas, added Musharraf.
Another draft law, The International Crimes (Tribunals) (Amendment) Act, 2012, was also approved at the meeting to give the related ordinance a legal shape for placing in parliament.
The cabinet, after holding detailed discussions, sent back the National Integrity Strategy (NIS) for further review, and formed a three-member committee to place it before the cabinet meeting within seven days.
The committee members are advisers to the Prime Minister Dr Moshiur Rahman, Dr Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and Dr Gowher Rizvi.
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