"A recasting has become inevitable, but it could not done in the last session due to time constraints and other pressing matters," a ruling party whip told The Daily Star yesterday wishing anonymity.

The posts of chairmen of parliamentary standing committees on home and labour and employment ministries have remained vacant for a long time, but no initiative was taken to recast them.

No meeting of the standing committee on labour and employment ministry was held since the death of its chairman Ahsanul Haque Mollah on December 12 last year.

Retired army major Abdul Mannan, chairman of the standing committee on home ministry, resigned from parliament on March 10. Since then, its members held just one meeting just to scrutinise a bill.

During a cabinet reshuffle on May 6, the food and the relief and disaster management ministries were merged into one ministry while another ministry was formed by merging the jute and the textile ministries.

But the standing committees on the four previously separate ministries are still there and cannot hold any meetings unless they are recast accordingly.

Officials at the parliament secretariat are embarrassed to invite some ministers to certain committee meetings as they are no longer members of those committees since their portfolios changed during the reshuffle.

Former home minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury has been made commerce minister, but he is not a member of the standing committee on commerce ministry. Similarly, new Information Minister M Shamsul Islam, Forest and Environment Minister Tariqul Islam, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdullah Al Noman and State Minister for Land Ukil Abdus Sattar are not members of the standing committees on their ministries.

Under the circumstances, parliament officials are still inviting the former ministers to committee meetings while the new ministers are being invited as special guests.