Recommendations mandatory

THE government deserves high appreciation for placing the Upazila Parishad (Repealed Act, Re-introduction and Amendment) Bill 2009 before the Parliament and getting it passed. With the passage of the bill, the concept of Upazila Parishad has received confirmation as the focal point of local level administration at the grassroots level.
In 1991, the committee headed by Barrister Nazmul Huda discarded the Upazila Parishad without leaving any scope to justify its fruitfulness or functional efficacy under a democratic climate although it started working in 1982 with the promulgation of the Local Government (Upazila Parishad and Upazila Administration Reorganisation) Ordinance.
After 18 years of confusion, debate, discussion and argument in favour of or against the upazila system, a law has now been made to address the issues of local level planning, rural development and socio -economic emancipation. Above all, Upazila Parishads might contribute significantly towards making the country poverty free, turning it into a middle income nation, and building digital Bangladesh.
Local government, as we find it today, is the cumulative result of years of change, upheaval and evolution. It is about local leadership, building strong communities and ensuring the wellbeing of the people it serves, while striving to help local areas to grow and develop with delegation of power and devolution of authority. Thus, the expectation was to see a strong Upazila Parishad manage local level issues in its own way.
The Upazila Parishad Act was approved by the Parliament recently, but the upazila chairmen and vice-chairmen feel that they have been made subordinates of the concerned member of Parliament. Recommendations of the concerned MP should be considered as mandatory and obligatory. Upazila Parishad chairmen shall not have the right even to refer a matter to the government without the approval and consent of the MP.
This is perhaps the first time that a law has been enacted where recommendation should be taken as final. Before this, recommendations were treated as optional, even so flexible that a recommendation of a minister used to be implemented after specific instruction or written order from him. In fact, recommendations are always optional, but this law is altogether different from precedents and practices.
In 1998, MPs were advisers without such power. Mr. A.K.M. Mozammel Huq, MP of the treasury bench raised a bill against this provision because he was chairman of Joydevpur Union Parishad and also Upazila chairman. He did not like to compromise his position. But he had to withdraw from his stand because of his party affiliation.
Mr. Abdul Matin Khasru, former law minister, and MP from Burichang and Brahman para of Comilla, raised a motion to designate the upazilla nirbahi officer as secretary of the chief executive officer, which was applauded by the House. There is no apparent legal reason for such a motion, except downgrading the bureaucracy. It is true that whenever bureaucracy is undermined efficiency is comprised, which eventually shatters the image of a popular government.
Strengthening local government is the primary objective of the upazila system. Thus, agriculture, land administration, health and family planning, primary education, rural electrification, poultry, fisheries, live stocks, horticulture, social forestry, milk production, cooperatives marketing, etc. should be transferred to the Upazila Parishad. But this time, the central government has retained many subjects. There should be, in fact, more devolution of power and delegation of authority to the Upazila Parishad.
Upazila chairmen and vice-chairmen were elected by the public with the expectation that they would resolve local problems without having to rush Dhaka and asking the MPs to mitigate the same. The duty of the MPs is in the Parliament, and not in interfering in a divorce case or a dacoity in his locality.
The Charter of Change or Vision 2021, to turn Bangladesh into a respectable nation with the transformation of political culture and making the society corruption free, will be difficult to achieve unless a strong, honest and dedicated local level governance system emerges to support the central government.
Dhiraj Kumar Nath is a former Secretary and a former Adviser to the caretaker government.