Almost all the parliamentary committees were found to have performed very poorly in 2020, said parliament sources.
In the last 11 months since March of 2020, many parliamentary committees did not hold any meeting on the excuse of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the sources claimed.
Three general sessions and a special session on the occasion of the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were held even amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many important acts have also been passed in those sessions.
But, during the parliament sessions, several meetings of the parliamentary bodies had been called, but most of them could not be held due to absence of many of the committee members.
However, after nine months, a meeting of the Parliamentary Body on Health and Family Welfare was held last Wednesday.
As per the Rules of Procedure, parliamentary committees are required to meet at least once a month. Therefore, the committees were supposed to meet at least 10 to 11 times in the last 11 months from March to December. But reality is that almost all the committees did not follow the procedure.
Under these circumstances, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare reportedly raised allegations against the Parliamentary Body on the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare for not holding meetings timely.
Officials concerned of the Parliament Secretariat said, in the last 11 months, most of the committees did not meet as per the rules of procedure on the excuse of the Corona pandemic. However, committee members have blamed the chairmen of different committees for not holding meetings.
Several members of the Parliamentary bodies on Social Welfare, Health, Education, Food, Land and Science & Technology said that chairmen of different parliamentary committees did not call meetings despite their repeated request to do so.
They said it would not be difficult to hold meetings virtually if there was willingness to do so even amid the prevailing corona pandemic.
Holding no meetings has questioned accountability, the parliament secretariat concerned added.
Rashed Khan Menon, chairman of the parliamentary committee on the Ministry of Social Welfare, said, Everyone knows that our committee did not hold any meeting due to COVID-19 pandemic. Many other committees also did not hold meetings.
“Now we have decided to hold a meeting. A letter has been sent to the committee secretary. The date of the meeting will be fixed soon. We will have a zoom meeting”, he said.
Regarding the committee meetings, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury said, Some committees might not have held meetings due to Corona. The matter is being looked into. Parliament will function in accordance with the Constitution and Rules of Procedure.
She said many sessions of the parliament were held in the Corona period. Those committees that could not hold meetings properly will be asked to hold meetings.
