President returns the Labour Bill 2023 for reconsideration

Usually, all Bills after passing from the parliament become an Act of parliament with the assent of the Honourable President. But the Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Bill 2023 was returned by the President after it was passed by the parliament. President Mohammed Shahabuddin did not sign the Bill and returned it to the parliament for reconsideration according to Article 80(3) of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Bill 2023 was presented to the parliament on 29 October 2023 and sent to the parliamentary standing committee of the Ministry of Labour and Employment to examine and send the report within three days. The Bill was passed in the parliament on 2 November 2023, in the last session of the 11th parliament, and sent to the President on 8 November 2023 for his assent.

On 22 November 2023, the Parliament Secretariat published a Parliament Bulletin which states that section 45 of the Bill may create confusion so it is important to reconsider the provision. Section 45 of the Bill, which is meant to amend section 294(1) of the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006, goes on to say that the "financial penalty for an illegal strike by the employee" would increase from BDT 5000 to BDT 20000.

It seems that section 294(2) of the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 states the penalty for illegal lockdown by the employer. As in the same section, increasing the penalty for employees and not increasing the penalty for employers shows differential treatment between two similar actions. Therefore, the President sent it back for reconsideration of the Bill.

According to Article 80(5) of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, "After a Bill is assented to or is deemed to have been assented to by the President, it will be called an Act of Parliament." It has been a long time since the President returned any bills. In 1998, President Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed returned a bill passed by the seventh parliament.

The writer is a Legal Officer, Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP).