Cabinet approves the draft of BBS and PIB Law

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

After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam briefed reporters.

He said BSS is now being run as per the 1979 ordinance promulgated during the martial law regime.

But the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, he said, in a verdict declared illegal all ordinances promulgated by the martial law regimes from 15th August of 1975 to 9th April of 1979 and 24th March of 1982 to 10th November of 1986.

As per the judgment, the government asked the authorities concerned to replace the relevant ordinances and translate those into Bangla. In its continuation, the law has been placed in today's cabinet meeting.

The cabinet secretary said there is no "gross deviation" from the existing ordinance, and the new law is going to be framed "more or less" following the 1979 ordinance.

Highlighting the "important features" of the proposed law, Alam said the organisation would be run by a board of directors, and according to the section 7 of the draft law, the board will be constituted comprising 11 members.

There will be a chairman and 10 members in the board. They will be appointed by the government and the tenure of the board will be three years.

The chairman could convene a meeting of the board any time and the quorum of the meeting will be fulfilled with the attendance of at least seven members including the chairman.

Any decision would be finalised by the board as per the opinions of its majority members. If any dispute arises, the chairman would solve it through "casting vote", Alam said

About the management of the BSS, the cabinet secretary said there will be a managing director (MD) to be appointed by the government. He or she will oversee the day-to-day activities of the news agency as its chief executive.

About the qualifications of the MD, Alam said he or she will have 15 years of experience as a journalist.

The cabinet secretary said the cabinet in principle also endorsed the draft of "The Bangladesh Press Institute Law, 2016" in a bid to give a legal shape to the institute and make it more time-befitting alongside improving its activities.

Alam said that since inception of the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB) on August 18, 1976, the institute has been operating only through a "resolution".

"For which, the government had felt the necessity of framing a law and that's why the draft law has been placed before the cabinet today," he said.

Under the proposed law, he said, the "definition" of the journalists has been explained. Besides, the main office of the PIB would remain in the capital, while the government could set up its branch offices outside the capital.

The cabinet secretary said that there will be a 15-member Board of Directors for the PIB to be appointed by the government for two years with the representation from eminent journalists, educationists, public relations experts and representatives from various journalist bodies.

According to the draft law, he said, that the main responsibilities of the PIB would be to provide "on-duty training facilities" to working journalists, mass media personnel, development and communication workers and persons related to media with real focus on training.

The chairman, as the head of the PIB board, would be appointed by the government for two years while the Director General of the institute would work as its chief executive to be appointed also by the government.

The director general after taking approval from the chairman could convene a meeting in every three months, while the quorum would be fulfilled with the presence of one-third board members.

Alam said the cabinet also gave a nod to the draft of the proposed "SAARC Youth Charter" incorporating 10 paragraphs with wider aims and policy guidelines as well as general rules on about what to do by the member countries.

In this connection, he said that the SAARC Youth Charter has provisions about what to do by the member states on ensuring proper environment for the young generation to keep them active.

Besides, the provisions are also there to ensure gender equality, development efficiency and ability of the young generation.

Besides, the cabinet was apprised of the participation of the Deputy Minister for Environment and Forests in the Intergovernmental Ninth Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum in Asia held at Kathmandu on November 17-20, 2015.

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