The Cabinet on Monday gave approval in principle to the draft of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution Bill 2016, modifying the existing law to make it more time befitting. The bill keeps intact the provisions for both jail terms and fines in case of violations of the law.
The approval came at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretariat today with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. Dhaka, UNB News Agency Reported.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said that the draft law has been modified incorporating new ideas and standardising the existing law to stay apace with international standards.
The cabinet secretary said the law was modified incorporating changed in the field of standards in the international arena, as well as to follow the directives of the Supreme Court that had earlier declared all martial law regime ordinances illegal.
Alam confirmed the draft law kept intact the provisions of jail and fine, saying anyone violating section 23 of the law – regarding the notification and conditions of licenses – would be sentenced to one year’s imprisonment or fine or both.
For violation of section 24, the concerned person could be sentenced to jail for four years and accrue a fine of Tk 25,000 up to Tk 1 lakh.
The Cabinet also approved the draft of a joint venture agreement between the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and a consortium of two Malaysian companies- Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB )and Powertek Energy Sdn, Bhd to set up a 1320 megawatt capacity Ultra Super Critical coal-based thermal power plant at Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar.
The cabinet secretary said under the agreement, the plant would be set up as a 50-50 joint venture initiative of TNB-Powertek and BPDB.The Cabinet also gave final approval to the draft of the Bangabandhu National Agriculture Award Trust Bill, 2016 by overhauling the Bangabandhu Award Fund.
The Cabinet also approved in principle the draft of the Bangladesh Patent Bill, 2016 to keep it consistent with the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and make it more time-befitting.
The Cabinet Secretary said that the draft of the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute Bill, 2016 was also approved in principle.Besides, the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission Bill, 2016 has been given approval in principle through revisiting the Presidential Order of 1973 to this end to make the law a full-fledged one.
The Cabinet meeting also approved a proposal for signing the draft agreement between Bangladesh and Kuwait titled Agreement between Ministry of Defense, Kuwait and Ministry of Defense, Bangladesh for the Deputation of the Bangladesh Armed Forces Personnel to the State of Kuwait.
It approved another proposal for ratifying the agreement signed between Bangladesh and Kuwait titled ‘Agreement between the government of Bangladesh and the government of the State of Kuwait on mutual exemption of prior entry visa for holders of diplomatic, special and official passports’.
The Cabinet also approved a proposal for signing an agreement between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia titled ‘Agreement on Cultural Cooperation between the government of Bangladesh and the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’.
Besides, the ‘Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission Bill, 2016′ has been given approval in principle through revisiting the Presidential Order of 1973 to this end to make the law a full-fledged one.
The Cabinet also approved a proposal for the government to sign a draft agreement between Bangladesh and Kuwait for deputation of Bangladesh Armed Forces’ personnel to the Gulf nation.It approved another proposal for ratifying the agreement signed between Bangladesh and Kuwait on mutual exemption of prior entry visa for holders of diplomatic, special and official passports.
At the very outset of the meeting, Finance Minister AMA Muhith handed over a crest with two specimen copies of the newly introduced Taka 5 government currency note.
