Bill to retain women's JS reserved Seats likely to be lapsed

 

September 12, 2000

The Crucial bill seeking retention of women's reserved seats in the Jatiya Sangsad is likely to be lapsed as the government has opted for legal course after failing to secure opposition support Standing Committee on law Ministry finalized its recommendation on the bill yesterday and is expected to submit those in the House in a day or two, its Chairman and prime Minister's Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Suranjit Sengupta told this correspondent. 

Introduced in the House on June 17, the bill was sent to the JS body for scrutiny and return to the House in four weeks. But it failed to do the job even in six days since the present session began on September 6. It got additional time due to adjournment of the last session before expiry of the given time. 

We can not keep on sitting on such a crucial bill due to oppositions continued non- cooperation 's . How can we allow a constitutional vacuum to take place ? Sengupta posed the question. 

He said his report is unlikely to undergo any fundamental change . The recommendations include those from warriors women's organizations and legal experts, he said. 

The bill seeks a 10 year extension of the tenure of the existing 30 reserved seats for women which is due to expire in April 2001. 

Various quarters including leading women's bodies have meanwhile demanded an in crease in the member of reserved seats and a provision for direct election to such seats. 

So long, women members for the reserved seats have been chosen by the ruling party although there is provision for their election by elected MPs. 

Leading opposition parties including BNP also spoke for the proposed arrangements. But the parties neither submitted their suggestions to the standing Committee nor are attending the parliament session. 

About such demands the veteran parliamentarian said he would like to leave the matters for consideration by the House. 

" We have brought the bill and it is now BNP's turn to help its passage. The opposition party is free to suggest any change and the House can adopt those if it deems those fit "he said. 

The government and the opposition are equally responsible for protection of rights of women who constitute half of the population, he added. 

So far, the committee met thrice to finalize its recommendations but none of the three BNP members on the committee attended the meetings. 

The lone Jatiya party ( Ershad) member Rabeya Bhuiyan however attended one meeting . 

Sengupta Hoped that BNP would give their views on the bill in the Housel saying the government is ready to accommodate those." If they skip their constitutional duties, they must be answerable to the people. BNP can't afford to ignore the issue because they will have to seek women's votes." 

Jamiruddin Sircar, a BNP member on the Standing Committee, said there was no discussion in his party on bill. 

" We cannot amend the Constitution to retain women's present share in parliament as we're boycotting the House proceedings. we can do it if an early election is held." the former education minister told the Daily Star. 



Asker how could his party expect to amend the constitution alone he did, In the next election, we'll campaign for two thirds majority in the parliament . If we can earn that strength in the next parliament, then we can raise the number of women's reserved seats to 50/60 or whatever is needed." 

Replying to a question why BNP was not supporting the bill now , he said how they could go to parliament unless their our four-point demand was met. 

Explaining BNP's brief attendance during the last session. he said, " We once Went there to remind about our demands but the government is yet to meet those. 

In this view the majority women in the country have no headache for some well-off women enjoying the status of lawmakers. " It's not a popular issue among the comm9onman nor will it affect our campaign in the next election." 

Rabeya Bhuiyan, who herself submitted a private members bill on the women's resaved seats, told this correspondent that she strongly opposed the government sponsored bill as the existing provision did not help empowerment of women. 

She said she suggested in the standing Committee meeting that there should be separate constituencies for women and these should not overlap the constituencies where direct elections are held. 

The JP lawmaker also proposed raising the number of such reserved seats to 100. 

Another BNP member on the committee , Khalequzzaman, seemed least bothered about the bill on retention of women's seats. 

Source : The Daily Star