Draft bill fixing service tenure of defence forces’ chiefs okayed

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UNB, Dhaka :
The Cabinet on Monday approved in principle the draft of ‘The Defence-Forces Chiefs (Appointment, Retirement and Remuneration and Allowances) Bill, 2016’ incorporating a provision of maximum four-year tenure of the concerned force’s chiefs from the date of their appointment.
The approval was given at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at the Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said the draft law has been proposed in line with sections 61, 62 and 63 of the constitution.
As per these sections, it is mandatory for the government to formulate a law regarding appointment, retirement and remunerations of the chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force as it has not been framed for the last 45 years, Shafiul said. Shafiul said the proposed draft law will replace the existing Joint Services Instructions-JSI under which the President has been appointing the chiefs of the three services while all other facilities and allowances are determined so far under the JSI. About remuneration and allowances of the three services’ chiefs, Shafiul Alam said they will get an amount of fixed salary equivalent to that of the Cabinet Secretary, which is currently a consolidated amount of Tk 86,000 per month. Besides, the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force will get other defence allowance,
outfit allowance, special residential facility and all-time transport facilities as well as other facilities like civil servants of the republic, he said.
After their retirement, Shafiul Alam said, the chiefs of the three services could not get re-appointment to any of the civil or military positions of the republic. However, they could be appointed to any of the constitutional posts of the country or in any such posts on contract basis. The Cabinet also approved in principle the draft of the ‘Bangladesh Rice Research Institute Bill, 2016’ making some minor changes in the existing law after translating it in Bangla. Under the proposed law, he said, a Managing Board will run the Institute with its Director General as the chief of the institute. The Board will sit after every four months in a meeting.
The Cabinet meeting also approved in principle the draft of the ‘Seed Bill, 2016’ under which the National Seed Board will be formed with the Agriculture Secretary as its chairman while a seed certifying agency will be formed which will issue certificates to the seed dealers.
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