Law
week
Price manipulators face legal action
Formation of price commission recommended
An inter-ministerial committee recommended taking legal actions against those involved in jacking up the prices of several essential commodities, especially soya bean oil and onion. To bring the prices down to tolerable levels, the committee placed a number of recommendations, including formation of Price Commission, for consideration of the caretaker government. The committee tasked with monitoring essentials' prices in a meeting reviewed the reasons behind the price spiral of essential commodities, and found the abnormal price rises “illogical”. After taking stock of the price situation, the committee called upon the businesspeople to fix the selling prices of essential commodities “at reasonable rates, making less profit”. Market surveys have found prices having increased every day or every alternate day. Particularly, the prices of the cooking oil, onions and powdered milk have shot up beyond the reach of common consumers. Prices of some essential medicines also skyrocketed. --Unb, Dhaka, November 12.
Extortion Case
Sk. Rehana given 7 days to surrender
A Dhaka court directed the authorities concerned to publish advertisements in two Bangla national dailies asking Sheikh Rehana, who lives in the UK, to surrender before the court by November 18 in connection with a Tk 2.99crore extortion case. Meantime, another Dhaka court asked Awami League (AL) leader and former chief whip Abul Hasnat Abdullah to appear before the court by November 14 in connection with a tax evasion case. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Shawkat Ali Chowdhury passed the order after the investigation officer (IO) of the extortion case submitted a report regarding the arrest warrant against Rehana and attachment order of her properties. Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Gulshan Police Station Obaidul Haq, the IO of the case, in his report mentioned that after receiving the arrest warrant and the attachment order, he went to Rehana's Gulshan residence to arrest her and attach her properties. But he failed to arrest Rehana as she was out of the country. Neither did he find any property that belonged to her. He later posted copies of the arrest warrant and attachment order near Rehana's residence, the IO added. --The daily Star, November 12.
Govt okays draft Ordinance for consumers
The advisory council approved the Consumers Rights Protection Ordinance 2007, which had been approved twice by the last BNP-led government but was never implemented. In its weekly meeting, the council also decided to appeal to the Dutch Supreme Court against a court order for payment of Tk 31 crore to a Dutch company in compensation for cancelling a contract in 2000.This may buy Bangladesh time to reach an out-of-court settlement with the Dutch company Tulip Computers. The cabinet meeting also approved in principle the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) Ordinance (Amendment), which will allow the SEC to suspend trading of shares of any company for 45 days instead of present 15 days. Approving the Consumers Rights Protection Ordinance 2007, the government has sent back the draft to the law and commerce ministries for vetting. The cabinet ordered the ministries to provide the final copy of the ordinance within two months, said Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Syed Fahim Munaim. --The Daily Star, November 12.
CA hopes for graft free judiciary
Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed hoped that the independent judiciary would play a tough and courageous role in establishing the rule of law in the country, remaining free from corruption. He further hoped that the judicial department would move forward for establishing justice everywhere in society, as it is now fully free from all sorts of influence following its separation. "The pace of justice has to be swifter and the dispensation of justice visible and transparent," the head of the caretaker government said. He said all institutions of the executive branch, including the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, will remain fully prepared to extend all assistance in accordance with the constitution in discharge of their (judges) duties. The CA expressed the optimism while formally unveiling Bangladesh Code that contains all existing laws of the land in updated form at a function organised at Sonargaon Hotel by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. --Unb, Dhaka, November 13.
Remove corrupt judges from courts: Pleads Bar Council
Bangladesh Bar Council, a regulatory body of the lawyers, urged the government to immediately initiate a drive to purge inefficient and corrupt judges, including those at higher courts, to revive the lost image of the judiciary. "If it doesn't happen right now, people are unlikely to get the benefits of the judiciary separation," Khondaker Mahbub Hossain, vice-chairman of the Bar Council, told a press conference. He said the judiciary has been separated from the executive control to ensure fair dispensation of justice right from the higher courts down to the subordinate ones for the people. “So the judiciary must be cleaned from vices by constituting an appropriate commission,” he said. --Unb, Dhaka, November 13.
Khaleda serves legal notice on EC
Detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia served a legal notice on the Election Commission (EC) asking it to withdraw, rescind or cancel within 48 hours its letter inviting Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed of BNP for electoral reform talks. The notice served through Khaleda's lawyer said if the EC fails to do so, he (lawyer) has instructions from her "to go for appropriate legal actions, if deemed necessary." The EC on October 5 issued a letter inviting Hafizuddin as BNP representative for the November 22 dialogue with it on electoral reforms. Khaleda's lawyer barrister Mohammad Nawshad Zamir, in the notice, alleged that the EC's letter was issued violating "the BNP constitution in a manner which is illegal, malafide and without lawful jurisdiction." The legal notice has been served on the EC represented by the chief election commissioner and election commissioners, Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda, election commissioners Brig Gen (retd) M Shakhawat Hossain and Sohul Hossain, the EC secretary and the state represented by the principal secretary to the chief adviser. It said that according to BNP constitution, the chairperson is the only elected person in the party, and has the exclusive authority and power to expel or nominate anybody as secretary general of the party. --The Daily Star, November 14.
Court permitted CID to take Hasina's statement
A Dhaka court gave permission for the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to record Sheikh Hasina's version about the grenade attacks on an Awami League (AL) rally in 2004. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate AKM Enamul Haque passed the order in response to CID Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Fazlul Kabir's application for the permission. Hasina, the detained president of AL, was arrested on July 16 in connection with a Tk 2.99 crore extortion case. She was sent to a sub-jail on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises after being produced before the court the same day. In the forwarding report, the investigation officer (IO) said the version of Hasina, one of victims of the grenade blasts, is needed to know about the incident. He also appealed to the court for directing the jail authorities to allow him to talk to the former premier at the sub-jail and record her statements about the incident. Earlier on October 23, Mufti Hannan, his brother Mohibullah alias Majibur Rahman and two others were shown arrested in the grenade attack case. They later gave confessional statements before a magistrate.-- The Daily Star, November 14.
Foreign Workers
Malaysia drafting law to control hiring, salary
Malaysia is drafting a stringent law to control hiring of foreign workers and their salary in an effort to calm labour unrest and reduce the country's dependency on immigrant workers. The move comes following a series of incidents involving foreign workers, some of whom protested against poor wage rates, not getting promised jobs and mistreatment of the workers by employers. There are currently around 3 lakh Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia and it is one of the most important sources of remittances to the country. On October 3 Malaysia imposed a freeze on issuing new work visas to Bangladeshis as a result of the recent problems. --The Daily Star, November 14.
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