The special committee formed to amend the constitution on Tuesday agreed to make a recommendation for increasing the number of reserved seats for the women in parliament.
The committee at a meeting also agreed that the technocrat ministers should be elected lawmakers within six months to continue in their offices, meeting sources said.
They said the committee held discussion up to Article 93 while the members decided to recommend increasing the number of seats for women lawmakers from existing 45 to either 60 or 100.
'We have in principle agreed to increase the number of reserved seats for the women. We are yet to decide whether it would be increased to 60 or 100,' committee member Abdul Matin Khasru told reporters after the meeting, adding that they would also consider whether the women lawmakers would be elected directly.
He said that the con-stituencies should be distributed in such a way so that one constituency should not get more than one lawmaker.
Talking to New Age, an AL member of the committee said that the seats for women would be increased gradually and for the first five years it would be 60.
The committee also discussed how to bring some changes in Article 56 inserting the provision that the technocrat ministers should prove their popularity through direct elections within six months of being appointed.
'We have discussed that if the technocrat ministers failed to be elected as lawmakers, their office would be vacant after six months,' said a committee member, adding that the committee was yet to make any recommendations in this regard.
He said that the present Article 56 should be replaced by the original Article in the constitution of 1972.
The committee also recommended that some changes should be brought to Article 70 ensuring more freedom for the lawmakers to express opinion in the parliament.
'The lawmakers will be able to express personal opinion, even if it contradicts the party's decision except some vital issues like no-confidence motion, finance issue and national security issues,' another AL member told New Age.
He also said that Article 78 regarding the privileges and immunities of the lawmakers should be unchanged but the
committee would make recommendations to upgrade the status of the MPs in the order of precedence.
The committee also discussed on keeping the provision for having two Deputy Speakers in the parliament but no recommendation in this regard was made, sources said.
The prime minister on July 21 formed a 15-member special parliamentary committee to recommend amendment proposals for the constitution following the High Court verdict regarding the fifth amendment of the constitution. The committee is headed by deputy leader of the House, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury.
The committee held 15 meetings so far and the initial discussions would be completed after next two meetings scheduled to be held today and tomorrow, the committee sources said.
After the final review by the committee, the bill for constitution amendment would be placed before the House in a special session in late April or early May, the sources said.
Source: New Age
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