A bill titled ‘Public Servants (Marriage with Foreign Nationals) Bill, 2015’ was passed in Parliament on Monday, scrapping the Public Servants (Marriage with Foreign Nationals) Ordinance which was promulgated in 1976 during the martial law regime.Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam piloted the Bill in the House and it was passed by voice vote.
According to the new law, the President might on an application made to this effect, grant a public servant permission to marry or promise to marry a foreign national.
Earlier, Bangladeshi diplomats were not allowed to marry foreign nationals under the Public Servant (Marriage with Foreign National) Ordinance 1976.
The Ordinance, promulgated in 1976 during Ziaur Rahman’s regime, was annulled by the court. The court in a verdict scrapped the fifth and sixth amendments to the constitution. According to the verdict, all the ordinances and laws will stand scrapped as well.
The new law was passed to replace the ordinance that stopped being effective following the court order.
Meanwhile, six other bills were placed in the House and sent to the relevant parliamentary standing committees for further scrutiny, while the Zilla Parishad (Amendment) Bill 2015 was withdrawn from Parliament.
The six bills are the Money Laundering Prevention (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Surplus Public Servants Absorption Bill 2015, the Railway Security Force Bill 2015, the Army (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Cadet College (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Air Force (Amendment) Bill 2015.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith moved the Money Laundering Prevention (Amendment) Bill 2015 in Parliament. The bill was sent to the relevant Parliamentary Standing Committee for further scrutiny and the committee was asked to place its report within only two working days.
Railways Minister Md Mazibul Hoque placed the Railway Security Force Bill 2015 in the House, and the relevant standing committee was asked to report back within next 30 days.
Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam moved the remaining four bills –the, the Army (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Cadet College (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Air Force (Amendment) Bill 2015—in the House, which were all then sent to the relevant parliamentary committees for further scrutiny.
The respective parliamentary committees were asked to place their reports on the 4 bills within the next one month for the Surplus Public Servants Absorption Bill 2015, within 4 weeks for the Army (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Cadet College (Amendment) Bill and for the Air Force (Amendment) Bill 2015 within two months.
