Laws enacted in 2014
IN the year of 2014, the Government of Bangladesh enacted some important laws e.g. The Journalist Welfare Trust Act, DNA Act, Chittagong Hill Tracts Board Act, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh Act, Rural Savings Bank Act etc. The key aim of this article is to review the Acts of 2014 in the light of aspirations of the people propelled by the Government to exacerbate the pedigree of its democratic image.
The use of DNA evidence in criminal investigation has grown in recent years. Taking the context of science of forensic evidence, government enacted the DNA Act. There was no specific legislation before the enactment of this Act which can provide specific guidelines to the investigating agencies and the court. The procedure should be adopted in the cases involving DNA as its evidence. The most shocking part of this Act is the wordings of section 3 (2), where it reserves its efficacy when section 112 of Evidence Act 1872 applies. There still lies an ambiguity in the contents of section 112 that if a child is born within 280 days, after dissolution of marriage, the legitimacy of that child is conclusive. It is basically an issue of medical science which has to be dealt with sincere scientific aptitude and by Laws of Nature. Deciding this issue, on the recourse of legal arguments, is totally a faulty approach and the course, which we are following today, deliberately ends up in faulty conclusions. The Courts readily admits the scientific evidences in case of theft, rape, murder and what not. But it is far beyond the reasonable understanding as why the issue of legitimacy is left open, to be decided by the legal interpretations and not by DNA technology.
To drum up the benefits for journalist, government enacted the Journalist Welfare Trust Act. Journalist should be accorded greater financial and social security to motivate and encourage them to perform their duties and responsibilities as truth informers of the people. High official public servants, journalists and representatives of civil society organisations will be members of the trustee board which will be a statutory authority. The numbers of journalists will be significantly high in the board. Under section 7 of the Act, the main functions of the trustee board are to give financial assistance to journalists and their families in cases of deaths, accidents or loosing working capacity etc. But the amount of financial assistance is not determined. So, the maximum and minimum limit of assistance should be specified by making rule as soon as possible for specific grade and category of journalist as well as for death, severity of accident etc. Otherwise the purpose of the Act might be foiled by biased consideration.
Among the various Acts adopted by the present government, the reformation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board (CHTDB) deserves special attention. Government re-enacted the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board Act by repealing Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board Ordinance, 1976. The CHTDB consists of six members including a chairman, a vice-chairman and 4 other members. But its functioning board formed under section 8 maintains the major representation from bureaucratic structure instead of local indigenous people. Under section 9, Board can approve of projects and schemes involving not more than 2 crore taka. So question remains that the development works taken by the board within its bureaucratic bottlenecks, how far it will touch the need of the hill people. Although there is a consultative committee comprised of maximum representation of local hill people only to advise and support the implementation of development projects and schemes initiated by the CHTDB, but their role is limited. Therefore, it should be addressed immediately.
The new Palli Sanchay Bank Act is enacted to set up a specialised bank for the rural people to shield themselves from the high interest charged by microfinance institutions. It is a unique approach of the government to set up such a bank funded by the savings of the poor beneficiary groups of the 'One House, One Farm' project. The bank's board of directors will consist of 18 members. Of the total, seven directors will be selected from the shareholders from the division level associations of the project. The remaining 11 posts will include from the bureaucratic ladder. The representation of the rural people in the board of directors should be increased to formulate the policy for their own needs. Finally, the success of Palli Sanchay Bank mostly depends the on the effectiveness of the project.
So, Legislation must be prepared conscientiously as it is normally prospective not retrospective, as it can comprehensively change the whole diagram of the people's life.
THE WRITER COMPLETED LLM FROM UNIVERSITY OF DHAKA.
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