Deputy commissioners on Tuesday sought authority to conduct 'summary trial' by executive magistrates besides operation of mobile courts to keep law and order under control.
At the inauguration of the three-day annual conference, the district administrators complained to prime minister Sheikh Hasina that non-government school management committees led by local lawmakers had been involved in irregularities and corruption, especially in appointment of teachers.
They said that the school management bodies were not functioning properly. The DCs suggested that recruitment for non-government schools and colleges should be controlled centrally to do away with the anomalies.
Inaugurating the conference at the Prime Minister's Office, Sheikh Hasina asked the deputy commissioners of all 64 districts and seven divisional commissioners to guard against attempts at price manipulations in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan beginning in the first week of August.
Dhaka divisional commissioner Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah along with Rajbari deputy commissioner Sahana Bari and Chittagong deputy commissioner Foyez Ahmed spoke at the inaugural session.
Two deputy commissioners from each of the seven divisions also took part in the discussions during a lunch with the prime minister.
'It is an important service to the public to keep the prices of the essentials at a normal level. Be more active during Ramadan so that unscrupulous traders cannot increase prices through manipulations,' the prime minister told the deputy commissioners.
She asked the district administrators to deal with businessmen cautiously since the matter becomes more sensitive in the month of Ramadan, 'If you go tough on the traders to contain prices, they will become inactive, which will create another problem,' Hasina warned.
The prime minister's directives came amid rising prices of essential commodities and crisis of oil and sugar which were still selling beyond the government-set prices before Ramadan.
The prime minister said mobile courts should be operated with efficiency so that innocent people were not harassed. Mobile courts operate across the country to try scheduled offences, including food adulteration, stalking and acts of violence, that affect public life.
'We ask for an amendment to the code of criminal procedure so that executive magistrates can hold summary trials besides operating mobile courts to maintain law and order more effectively,' a deputy commissioner told New Age.
He said that mobile courts could try a person summarily only when the accused confessed to their guilt.
After separation of the judiciary from the executive, the executive magistrates do not have the legal authority to hold summary trial in case an accused denies having committed the crime, said officials.
The district administrators also suggested setting up of a separate attorney service either under the Cabinet Division or under the public administration ministry to effectively defend the state in legal battles, a number of deputy commissioners said.
The prime minister, however, reminded the deputy commissioners of their responsibilities as public servants.
She said the present-day administration was different from the administrative system instituted by the British in the 19th century when the officials' only responsibility was to collect taxes. 'But now your responsibility is to deliver services to the people …You are not masters of the people. You have been appointed to serve the people.'
Five working sessions dealing with the ministries of education, primary and mass education, science and ICT, finance, home, liberation war affairs, land, public works, planning and environment were held at the Cabinet Division on the first day of the three-day conference.
'Some DCs have complained against the non-government school management committees. We will take measures over the matter,' education minister Nurul Islam Nahid told reporters without saying anything about the complaints.
He asked the deputy commissioners to inspect the schools to ensure that the institutions run better.
The deputy commissioner of Dhaka recommended inclusion of 'Ka' category drugs – phensidyl and heroine – in the schedule of mobile court law. He also asked for providing more police to effectively run the mobile courts.
Talking to reporters, home minister Sahara Khatun claimed that there was no gap between the police and local administration and claimed that law and order was now better.
Three deputy commissioners from Chittagong Hill Tracts urged the finance ministry to raise the hill allowance of officials from Tk 3,000 to Tk 5,000.
Cox's Bazar deputy commissioner recommended that tourists' destination Cox's Bazar should be declared an 'expensive district' as everything was costly in the area.
The district administrators raised the issue with the prime minister that they could not perform as expected and faced difficulties in defending the state in many cases 'in fear of contempt of court' and also because of 'inefficient attorneys', a deputy commissioner told New Age.
The deputy commissioners have submitted a total of 320 recommendations relating to 36 ministries to be discussed in 20 sessions, according to officials at the Cabinet Division.
Cabinet secretary M Abdul Aziz earlier said that a total of 289 decisions were made in the last conference of which 127 had been implemented immediately and the rest 162 were in progress.
The deputy commissioners' conference 2011, the third after the Awami League-led government assumed office in January 2009, is also expected to focus the government's vision for a digital Bangladesh by 2021 at various sessions, according to officials.
Source : New Age