BRTA to get more legal teeth

The cabinet yesterday approved the draft Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) Act-2015 to make the organisation legally stronger.

BRTA's legal base is not strong enough because road transport activities are run as per the Motor Vehicles Ordinance-1983, said Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan.

The proposed law will replace the ordinance.

Musharraf said the law would bring order in the motor vehicles and road transport system, making it technology based, environment-friendly, sustainable, and time efficient.

He was addressing reporters after the cabinet met at Bangladesh Secretariat.

The draft BRTA act was prepared through a long process of verification, inter-ministerial meetings, and opinion sharing of the stakeholders, he added.

The draft, with 28 sections and 72 sub-sections, proposes creation of a company under the law in the future.

The cabinet also endorsed the proposed Paira Port Project (Land Acquisition) Act-2015, subject to a law ministry review, with a provision to promptly compensate the affected land owners.

The country's third seaport is planned in the Paira river of Patuakhali.

As per the law if anyone builds any structure with an ill-motive or against people's interest changing the category of the land like turning farmland into commercial land, then he or she will not get the compensation, said Musharraf.

The draft Bangabandhu Science and Technology Fellowship Trust Act-2015 was also approved for creation of a trust fund after the father of the nation.

The cabinet also decided to enact an umbrella law for forming trusts in the public sector so that there is no need to frame a separate law for each government trust, the secretary said.

It asked the industries ministry to further review the draft National Quality Standard (Goods and Services) Policy-2015 in consultation with the stakeholders.

At the meeting, the cabinet adopted two thanksgiving motions -- one greeting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for winning the prestigious "Champions of the Earth Award" for her government's role in addressing climate change issues in Bangladesh, and the other congratulating former chief justice Md Tafazzul Islam and former judge of the High Court Justice Md Awlad Ali for being appointed members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, for resolving international disputes.

This is the first time Bangladeshi judges are appointed into the prestigious institution.

The cabinet noted that the "Champions of the Earth Award", the United Nations' highest environmental honour, is the outcome of the PM's visionary leadership.