Cabinet approves the draft of 'The Railway Propety Law, 2016'

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

Briefing the reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said the new law is being formulated translating the existing "Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Ordinance, 1979" into Bangla as per directives of the Supreme Court that had earlier declared all the martial law regime ordinances illegal.

According to the draft law, he said, earning and possessing railway property illegally would be considered as punishable offences.

About the punishment for committing such offences, Alam said, the draft law has kept a provision of maximum 7 years of rigorous jail or fine or both for stealing any kind of railway property as well as for occupying such properties illegally.

Besides, anyone helping others for keeping railway properties under their possession illegally would be sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment or fine or both the punishment, he added.

Explaining the features on investigation about the issue, the cabinet secretary said the Railway Security Force could arrest any accused without warrant as such acts would be considered as "cognizable offences".

In this regard, he mentioned that officer-in-charge (OC) concerned of the Railway Security Force could exercise power like an OC of a Police Station.

The OC of the Railway Force could send the accused to the court or release them with or without undertaking on condition that the accused would surrender before the respective court subject to legal grounds, he said.

If there is not proper deposition or logical grounds to suspect the accused, the OC could release them keeping an undertaking from the suspects, he added.

The cabinet secretary mentioned that all the decisions implemented previously under the existing ordinance would be considered to have been done as per the draft law.

Alam said the cabinet also approved a proposal for re-fixing/raising the fees (non-tax revenue) mentioned in the section-2 of the Companies Act, 1994 by almost doubling such fees.

He said that such fees was reorganized last in 2007 and after long eight years, a proposal has been made to hike such fees considering the growing size of the economy.

The cabinet secretary said the government is now getting around Tk 70 crore from such fees, and once the increased fees are implemented, the government's revenue would raise to around Tk 150 crore.

The cabinet secretary also said the cabinet endorsed the draft of "The Agreement between the Government of the State of Kuwait and the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investment".

Highlighting the salient features of the deal, he said, an opportunity would be created for the Kuwaiti investors to make investment in Bangladesh on government-to-government (G2G) basis.

Besides, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, which supplies petroleum products to Bangladesh, would get a scope for investing in Bangladesh on the G2G basis.

The entrepreneurs of both the countries will also get investment and visa facilities under the agreement. It would help generate employment in Bangladesh and raise capacity of local organisations.

Shafiul Alam said the draft of "The Agreement between the Government of State of Kuwait and the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh on Mutual Exemption of Prior Entry Visa for Holders of Diplomatic, Special and Official Passports" was approved by the cabinet.

He said the two deals would be signed during the upcoming visit of the Kuwaiti Prime Minister to Bangladesh.

The cabinet secretary said the cabinet also ratified a proposal for the SAARC Framework Agreement for Energy Cooperation (Electricity) for exchanging electricity between the SAARC nations.

He said the cabinet fixed the new office timing for upcoming month of Ramadan (Hijri 1437).

The office timing for the Ramadan for all the government, semi-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous institutions would be 9 am to 3:30 pm with a 15-minute prayer break from 1:15 pm to 1:30 pm.

He said the meeting was also apprised of the participation of a Bangladesh delegation led by the Foreign Minister in the 13th OIC Summit held at Istanbul in Turkey on April 14-15 and the participation of a Bangladesh team led by the State Minister for Women and Children Affairs in the 60th meeting of the 'Commission on the Status of Women' held at the UN Headquarters in New York on March 14-16.

At the very outset of the meeting, Alam said, the cabinet adopted a condolence motion at the death of parliament member, former state minister for health and a valiant freedom fighter Dr Captain (retd) Mujibur Rahman Fakir.

Dr Mujibur Rahman Fakir, who was elected from Mymensingh-3 constituency (Gouripur), breathed his last at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital this morning.

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