Cabinet Approved The Draft Of "The Rabindra University Law, 2015"

The approval was given at a regular meeting of the cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hussain Bhuiyan briefed reporters.

He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on May 8 laid the foundation stone of Rabindra University at Shahjadpur, Sirajganj, one of the places that is rich with the memories of Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath.

"The laying of foundation of Rabindra University at Shahjadpur manifested the commitment of the government and the Prime Minister," he said.

The Education Ministry, he added, today placed the draft of the proposed law before the cabinet which later approved it in principle. The draft will be sent to the Law Ministry for vetting and after that (vetting), it will be placed before the cabinet again for final approval.

In this connection, he said enactment of a law by parliament is needed for setting up a public university as the university is a separate statutory body.

Bhuiyan said apart from Shahjadpur, there are some places like Shilaidah of Kushtia and Patisar of Naogaon, which also bear the memory of Rabindranath as his family was Zamindar of that places.

Highlighting other objectives of Rabindra University, the cabinet secretary said that not only the language and literature of Kabiguru will be practised at the university there would also be other disciplines of learning.

"There will be other faculties like arts, music, dance, fine arts, sociology, agriculture, cooperatives, law, business administration, science and engineering technology side by side with creation, philosophy and world culture of Rabindranath," he said.

Bhuiyan said: "It is natural the focus will be on arts, music, dance and fine arts, but there would be specific focus on creation and philosophy of Rabindranath."

The cabinet secretary said under the law, the legal framework of the university would be like other public universities.

He said it's a standard practice that the first statute of the university is passed with the law. "So, the cabinet today endorsed the draft law in principle with the first statute of Rabindra University," he said.

The cabinet also endorsed the draft of the "The Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Law, 2015" updating the existing law on regulating the purchase and selling of foreign currencies and securities.

Earlier on January 12, the Banking and Finance Division under the Ministry of Finance placed the draft law aimed at giving authority to the government to ask any local or foreign resident to come up with information about their foreign exchange or securities and immoveable or other properties abroad.

On that day, the cabinet approved in principle the draft law with some observations.

The Banking and Finance Division today placed the draft law before the cabinet again incorporating the cabinet observations.

"The cabinet gave the final approval to the draft law today and it will now go to parliament," the cabinet secretary said.

He said the amendment to the law has made it clear that for which the law would be applicable.

"The law would be applicable to all citizens of the country and all foreign nationals living in Bangladesh," he added.

Besides, he said, some definitions have been updated as financial terms have been incorporated.

The cabinet secretary said another important amendment has been brought to the new law which is investment-friendly.

In the existing law, the foreign and multinational companies have to get permission from both Board of Investment (BoI) and Bangladesh Bank for setting up any office in Bangladesh.

But in the proposed law, they will have to get permission only from the BoI and inform the central bank of the matter within one month.

Besides, Bhuiyan said, Bangladesh Bank has been given some powers like collecting information on Bangladeshi citizens wherever they reside and foreign nationals living in Bangladesh.

The cabinet was apprised of the participation of a Bangladesh delegation led by the state minister for foreign affairs in the Women in Parliaments (WIP) Annual Summit 2015 held in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on March 23-25.

Besides, the participation of the industries minister in the 10th Northeast Business Summit (Development through Partnership with ASEAN and BIMSTEC Countries) held in New Delhi on March 13-14 was informed.

Ministers, state ministers concerned attended the meeting, while secretaries concerned were present.

Photo: Saiful Islam Kallol