Rights groups decry Sahara comments

Rights defenders on Friday came down heavily on home minister Sahara Khatun for her remarks that she had nothing to do with the Limon Hossain case as it was now for the court to decide the matter.

The rights activists termed the comments 'highly irresponsible' and 'sheer disrespect for rule of law.

Sahara Khatun on Thursday told newsmen, 'The government has nothing to do with the Limon case at this stage, as it is now for the court to decide the matter.'

'The police have pressed

a charge sheet against him after an investigation. Now the court will decide the case,' she said although the director general of Rapid Action Battalion on April 11 had said Limon was innocent and he might have been a victim of a shootout between gangsters and the battalion.

Limon was shot in the leg by RAB in Jhalakati in April and had to be amputated.

The National Human Rights Commission chairman, Mizanur Rahman, who had called for proper investigation of the Limon incident, said that the home minister could in no way avoid its responsibility in ensuring a fair investigation into the shooting of the college student.

He said that the commission would go for a legal battle to defend Limon by appointing a lawyer to uphold justice.

'It would be a test for the court to ensure a fair trial. The commission on Thursday applied for enlisting its name in favour of the case filed by Limon's mother,' he said.  

Ain O Salish Kendra executive director Sultana Kamal, also newly elected chairman of Transparency International Bangladesh chapter, said the police had hurriedly submitted a charge sheet to conceal its mistakes.

She urged the government to compensate Limon's family by admitting the mistakes as  the RAB director general had said Limon was accidentally hit by a bullet during a 'shootout' between the battalion and gangsters in Jhalakati.

She said the home minister's statement was unacceptable and wondered how she (Sahara Khatun) could make such irresponsible remarks.

Jurist Sara Hossain said the minister's comments reflected her 'sheer disrespect' for rule of law. 'Such comments are a threat to rule of law,' she said.

'Although other ministers are speaking for rule of law, the law enforcement agencies continue to ignore it,' she said.

Rights watchdog Odhikar secretary Adilur Rahman Khan said the home minister had tried to avoid her responsibility by making such remarks.

He said that the police had submitted a charge sheet in connection with the case filed by the RAB in a bid to block a fair investigation of the case recorded by police 16 days after the court order.

'The role of home minister proves that the government is failing to protect the rights of citizens,' he said.

An adviser to a past caretaker government, ASM Shajahan, told New Age that he thought that the home minister had made the statement considering all aspects of the incident.

He suggested that the case filed by Limon's mother should be transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department for a fair investigation.

'The home ministry should hand over the case to CID for a credible investigation,' he said.

Information commissioner Sadeka Halim told New Age that the government should investigate all allegations of human rights violations against RAB personnel.

She also said that the charge sheet submitted by the police implicating Limon in the case filed by RAB before the investigation of another case filed by Limon's mother would raise questions.

'The battalion so far found no evidence of his [Limon] involvement in crimes. He just fell "victim" during a "shootout" between the cohorts of local gangster Morshed Jomadder and a team of the battalion,' The RAB chief told a briefing at its headquarters on April 11.

He said that a team of RAB-8 had gone to village Saturia in Jhalakati to arrest Morshed, who was sentenced to 90 years of imprisonment in different criminal cases.

'RAB-8 had conducted an investigation which described Limon as a criminal. As questions were raised by different quarters about the investigation, RAB headquarters launched a fresh inquiry into the incident. Besides, another committee led by a magistrate is also investigating the incident,' said the RAB DG.

On April 26, the Rajapur police in Jhalakati registered the case against six RAB personnel on charges of shooting the college student.

The police registered the case after the district and sessions judge, Faruk Ahmed, on April 26 rejected a petition filed by the police seeking a review of the order passed by the judicial magistrate asking the police to record in 48 hours the case, filed by Liomn's mother Henoara Begum on April 10.

Henoara filed the case with the Jhalakati court accusing six battalion personnel of shooting her son without caring about verifying his identity on March 23 when he was taking cows for grazing at Saturia of Rajapur in the district.

The police on Wednesday submitted the charge sheet against eight people, including Limon Hossain.

Charges were pressed against them in the case filed by the battalion under the Arms Act 1878 for the incident in which Limon was shot and maimed by the RAB.

Limon received treatment at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barisal about eight hours after the shooting and was referred to National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation in the capital, where his left leg was amputated on March 27.

Source: New Age

Over 13,000 cases pending in labour courts

More than 13,000 cases are pending in the seven labour courts of Bangladesh, with over a half of the courts now operating without a registrar, and one of the courts in Dhaka, which alone has 4,194 cases pending, non-functional as it has no chairman.

Most of the pending cases involve the apparel sector and relate to claims of unfair dismissal, non-payment of wages and trade union rights.

The huge backlog is, however, not just due to the low number of courts and inadequate staffing but also because, as a general practice, the labour courts tend only to sit for half a day.

Three of the seven courts are based in Dhaka, two in Chittagong, one in Rajshai and one in Khulna.

The Labour Appellate Tribunal registrar, M Kamal Hussain, told New Age that as of March 31, 13,257 cases were pending with labour courts —246 cases in the appellate tribunal, 1869 cases in the Dhaka First Labour Court, 4215 in the Dhaka Second Court, 4194 cases in the Dhaka Third Court, 291 cases in the Rajshahi Court, 940 in the Khulna Court, 933 cases in the Chittagong First Court and 569 cases in the Chittagong Second Court.

The labour ministry will need to request the law ministry to assign a district judge or additional district judge on deputation to activate the court in Dhaka, which is without a chairman.

According to an official, this could, however, take a long time.

The Labour Appellate Tribunal is not in a much better condition. The tribunal has 246 cases pending but the court has been functioning without a member judge for four years although Section 218(5) of the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 stipulates that one or more benches can be formed with two or more members.

Before the current appellate tribunal's chairman was appointed in May 2010, the post had been vacant for a year and a half.

Israfil Alam, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the labour ministry, blames both the labour and law ministries for the situation.

'We have discussed the lack of four registrars and the absence of an appellate member judge with the labour ministry several times but nothing has so far been done,' he told New Age.

The registrar's post is a non-cadre post and is appointed by the Public Service Commission, so the labour ministry blames the PSC which has failed to provide the courts with staff.

The labour ministry also says that it has tried to deal with the backlog of cases by asking the law ministry to allow district judge's courts to hear labour law cases along with its usual cases.

After waiting for a year, the labour ministry finally

heard in early April that the law ministry had turned down its request as the district courts were already 'overloaded with pending cases.'

'If the government wants to increase the number of labour courts, it can do so by following the existing labour law,' the law ministry said in its letter.

Israfil criticised the law ministry's decision. 'When hearings relating to children and explosive substances can proceed in the district judges' courts, why not the labour cases?'

'If we cannot take the courts close to the workers, they will never enjoy the benefits of the existing labour laws as it becomes difficult for them to continue legal battles when the courts are far away from them,' Israfil told New Age.

Razekuzzaman Ratan, general secretary of the Samajtantrik Sramik Front, stressed the importance of setting up more labour courts to ensure the legal rights of the workers as in the current situation the hapless workers are unwilling to file cases.

'If workers file cases they need to travel long distances, which is time-consuming and too costly for them,' he said, pointing out that a worker from Sylhet has to travel to Chittagong to file a case.

The number of labour courts has not expanded since 1970 despite the huge increase in the level of employment in the country and changes introduced by the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 which resulted in the labour courts having to deal not only with civil law labour disputes but also criminal prosecution involving labour law.

The parliamentary standing committee has recommended that there should be a labour court in every district but no action in this regard has been taken by the labour ministry.

The huge backlog of cases exists even though the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 requires that all cases should be completed within 60 days.

'The problem is that the law does not specifically say what should happen if the case is not resolved in the two-month period,' said labour lawyer AKM Nasim. As a result the cases just get extended.

The lengthy court process and the scarcity of labour courts is a big problem for workers. 'I have to get a whole day's leave from my current employer in Narsingdi to attend a hearing in the labour court in Dhaka of an old case filed against my former employer who terminated me illegally,' Habibur Rahman told New Age.

He said that it was extremely difficult to continue to pursue the case.

'Most of the cases in the Khulna court are filed against influential shrimp industry owners and they manage to influence the court to delay the proceedings, which breaks the patience of the poor workers,' a member of the Khulna labour court told New Age.

Source: New Age

Out with Sheraton, in with a new name

Dhaka, April 29: Iconic hotel brand Sheraton is finally ending its operation in Bangladesh after a long stay of 27 years, and state-owned Bangladesh Services Ltd (BSL) that owns the hotel is going to take over its operation and management.

From May 1, the state-owned hotel is going to be named Ruposhi Bangla, and it will be the title name of the hotel from now. The BSL has called a press conference on Saturday in this regard.

Ruposhi Bangla, a new company formed by the BSL and to be run by the Sheraton's present staffs, will be the management operator of the hotel for an interim period until the government finds a world class company to run the hotel.

Lutfur Rahman, managing director of the BSL, is likely to be the chief executive officer, while Mahfuzur Rahman, director of sales and marketing of Dhaka Sheraton, will be the general manager of the new hotel, said a top official of the hotel, asking not to be named.

The BSL also takes over the 400 regular employees of Dhaka Sheraton, and would pay salaries and other facilities to all the staff members until a new company takes over.

Meanwhile, the government has started looking for an international hotel chain to operate and manage the hotel, and shortlisted a number of companies, including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Marriott, Swiss Hotel and Kempinski Hotel, he said.

Sheraton was supposed to fold its business by March 31 as the international hotel-chain brand and the government differed on operating conditions. Later, it extended its stay by a month upon government request so that the BSL gets a month more time for preparation.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts that operates under the brand name of Sheraton had a 25-year deal with the BSL, which expired on December 31, 2008. The company had since extended its contract 10 times.

Since 2009, Starwood had been pressing for a complete renovation of the hotel's rooms, kitchens, conference rooms, bathrooms, lobbies and bars.

However, Starwood and the government failed to reach an understanding over issues, such as the renovation cost, the right to choose and hire construction team, and the deadline to complete the construction work.

Starwood was too strict to be flexible to the government request to ease the conditions, which eventually stopped both parties to reach an agreement.

Last year, Sheraton earned revenue of around Tk 102 crore, up from Tk 80.5 crore in 2009. The hotel made an operating profit of nearly Tk 50 crore, a sharp rise of 47 percent from that of 2009, amid intense competition from its new rivals in the hospitality sector.

Source: The Daily Star