Chief Whip rejects part of TIB study

Chief Whip ASM Feroz today termed baseless Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) study which claimed a considerable amount of money had been lost due to quorum crisis in the current session of the parliament.

"It is not comprehensible on which basis TIB calculated the loss of Tk 8.01 crore due to quorum crisis and on an average Tk 78,000 per minute," he said.

He however said, "We do not reject the full report and TIB should be more conscious, serious and objective in measuring the losses."

The anti-graft body on July 7 revealed that despite having 276 MPs, the session witnessed 28 minutes of a quorum crisis in every sitting on average. This means the House had to delay its proceedings by 28 minutes because enough lawmakers were not present, causing a loss of around Tk 8 crore in public funds.  

The anti-graft body in its report said the expenditure per minute is Tk 78,000 when parliament is in session.

Questioning about the method of TIB findings, Feroz said the parliament remains active all round the year and there is no scope to spend such a big amount of money as TIB mentioned.

Regarding the time frame for enacting law that TIB criticised in its study, the whip also said, "Laws are enacted within shot time as per the need of our members, but any recommendations from civil society and experts can play role here in provisions or others."

The study showed lawmakers spent just 1.8 percent of the total time for the purpose in the first session of the current House.
 
In the case of the Bangladesh parliament, only 57 of the 350 lawmakers took part in the law-making process, taking about 12 minutes on average to pass a bill. It was about 20 minutes in the eighth parliament, the study said.