JS committee recommends some changes

A parliamentary committee yesterday finalised its report on the much-talked about proposed Road Transport Act, 2018, recommending some changes in the proposed law.

It, however, did not address criticisms against the act, including the “lenient” nature of punishment over deaths caused by reckless driving.

Scrutinising the bill, the standing committee on road transport and bridges ministry at a meeting decided to recommend changes to sections 25(2), 43(4) and 54 of the proposed law, meeting participants said.

AKMA Awal, a member of the committee, confirmed the decisions to this newspaper without giving details.

Meeting sources said the committee will place its report before parliament within two or three days, and the proposed act is likely to be passed in this session of Jatiya Sangsad, ending on September 20.

On Thursday, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader placed the proposed law in parliament, which then sent it to the parliamentary standing committee for scrutiny. The House body has been asked to submit its report within a week.

With Akabbar Hossain, chief of the JS body, in the chair, the meeting was attended by Obaidul Quader, five lawmakers who are members of the committee.

Besides, road safety campaigner Ilias Kanchan, columnist Syed Abul Maksud, Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association Secretary General Khondaker Enayet Ullah and senior vice president of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, also took part the meeting on special invitation.

PROPOSED CHANGES

Section 54 deals with formation of a trustee broad to manage the fund for the injured or family members of those killed in road accidents.

The committee recommended incorporating a representative from civil society in the trustee broad, Ilias Kanchan, told this correspondent.

Section 43 (4) says the government or a government-appointed body can impose “fine at gradual increase rate” for overloading.

Instead of “fine at gradual increase rate”, the committee recommended using the term “fine at specific rate”, he said.

Section 25 (2) says if any government employee issues fitness certificate to an unfit vehicle, departmental step can be taken against the official.

The committee recommended clarifying it as similar things were mentioned in another section, another participant said.

Ilias Kanchan added that he has given a written proposal for changes in the proposed act, including renaming the law as “Road Transport and Security Act”.

He proposed incorporating a provision barring leader of transport owners or workers from holding important posts in the government, but it was not discussed.

Ilias Kanchan said he also recommended introducing a dress code for drivers, which was opposed by the transport leaders present at the meeting.

Eayet Ullah said they have proposed dropping the provision of having mandatory licence to be a conductor of a vehicle. “We are struggling to get drivers, and if the provision remains, we will not get any staff. The committee, however, did not respond to it,” he told The Daily Star last night.

He said as per the existing law, a minibus is a passenger vehicle having seats bellow 31, but most of the imported luxurious buses have 26 to 28 seats. “This is causing a problem, so we asked the committee to specify it.”

In March last year, the cabinet approved in principle the proposed legislation but it remained shelved at the law ministry for more than a year for vetting amid opposition by transport owners and workers to some of the provisions.

Later, the government decided to place the draft act before the cabinet following the student agitation for road safety which came on the heels of the death of two college students in the capital on July 29.

Campaigners have long been demanding that the government increase the punishment to at least 10 years for reckless driving resulting in death.  As per the existing law, three years' jail is the maximum punishment for this offence.

The draft law retains the punishment of five years' imprisonment for causing death of a person by reckless driving, a sentence which road safety campaigners believe is insufficient.

Campaigners also said the proposed law was rather soft on transport owners, as it held the drivers solely responsible for casualties in road crashes.

At a meeting on September 4, Obaidul Quader, however, said the proposed act was not yet finalised and there was still scope for revision. The parliamentary standing committee might seek experts' opinion on it.

The government has worked for over a year regarding the proposed law and, therefore, lengthy discussion is not required in this meeting, a participant quoted Quader as saying.