The cabinet on Tuesday approved in principle the draft of ‘The Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation Act, 2019’ that provides for enhanced penalties for giving false information while seeking house building loan, reports BSS.
The draft law seeks to increase the punishment to five years of imprisonment from two years and the fine to Tk 5 lakh from Tk 2000 for the offence. The approval came from the weekly cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair at Prime Minister Office (PMO) in the capital. “The cabinet approved in principle ‘The Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation Act, 2019’ bringing some changes to the existing ‘Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation Order 1973,’ Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said at a news briefing in the Secretariat here.
“Some changes have been proposed in case of punishment. It has proposed increasing the jail term to five years from the existing two years and fine to Taka 5 lakh from Taka 2000 in the draft law for giving false information to get loan from the Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation,” he said. The amendment proposal also sought to enhance the authorised capital to Tk 1000 crore and paid up capital to Tk 500 crore from the existing Taka 110 crore in both the cases, he continued.
Shafiul said, in the proposed law the legal terms default loan, corporationchairman and director have been added to the proposed law. As per the law, a director of the corporation will be appointed for threeyears tenure. He said the cabinet okayed in principle the draft of ‘The Air Transport(The Montreal Convention, 1999) Act, 2019’, to ensure air passenger rightsthat include compensation of US dollar 1.60 lakh for one’s death in an accident.”
“The cabinet has in principle approved the draft of the law in accordancewith ‘The Montreal Convention, 1999’ to give safeguard of the airpassengers,” the Cabinet Secretary also said. “The law has proposed 10 years’ jail and a fine of Taka 100 crore forairlines owners or company in case of failure to give the fixed compensation,” he continued. About implementation of the cabinet decision, he said that around 82percent of its decisions (59 decisions out of 72) in the quarter from Aprilto June have been implemented.
He also said that the cabinet has approved the ‘Leather and Leather GoodsDevelopment Policy, 2019’ giving emphasis on attracting foreign investment asBangladesh has set a target to earn five billion US dollars from export inthis sector by 2024 and a pact signed between Bangladesh and Czech Republicto avoid dual taxation and stop dodges of revenue. The cabinet also approved the proposal of Bangladesh’s accession to PatientCorporation Treaty (PCT), he said, adding that as many as 152 countriesincluding India and Sri Lanka have signed the treaty.
The cabinet also adopted a condolence motion at the death of one of thepolitical luminaries of the country and Bangladesh National Awami Party NAP(Muzaffar) President Professor Muzaffar Ahmed. It was apprised the visit of the Bangladesh delegation team led by PlanningMinister to attend in the 75th session of the ESCAP held on May 27 to 31 inBangkok.
The cabinet was also apprised the visit of the Bangladesh delegation teamled by Social Welfare Minister to attend “The 2nd Global Summit onDisability” held on 6th to 8th June in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. Primary and Mass Education State Minister Md Zakir Hossain and secretary Md Akram-Al-Hossain handed over a five-year work plan for the ministry in line with the election manifesto to the Prime Minister.
