Parliamentary panel proposes legal action against NGOs making demeaning remarks against State

A parliamentary sub-committee has recommended inclusion of a provision in the proposed Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Bill to allow the government to take to task NGOs for making any demeaning remarks against Parliament, the Constitution and the State.

The sub-committee on law ministry discussed the issue in its meeting on Tuesday.
 
The decision to include the provision in the proposed Bill was taken in the meeting presided over by the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on law, justice and parliamentary affairs and the convenor of the sub-committee Suranjit Sengupta.
 
“We need to keep this provision in the bill so that voluntary organisations cannot question the sovereignty of Parliament, the Constitution and the State,” Sengupta said.

The Bill was tabled in Parliament on Sep 1 by Matia Chowdhury, who is in-charge of parliamentary affairs in the Prime Minister's Office.
 
It was then sent to the standing committee for scrutiny. The standing committee then formed the sub-committee to examine the Bill.
 
After publishing a report titled ‘Parliament Watch’, Executive Director of Transparency International, Bangladesh Iftekharuzzaman on Oct 25 termed the Parliament a “puppet show stage”.
 
Members of Parliament on Nov 9 expressed their dissatisfaction over the comment.
 
They also demanded that Iftekharuzzaman be asked to appear before the Parliament’s Privileges Committee.
 
An official of the Parliament’s legal branch said the Bill would be presented again before the committee after the inclusion of the proposed provision.
 
Clause 15 of the proposed Bill seeks to empower the NGO Bureau to cancel or suspend the registration of any organisation violating the law, or take action against it .
 
Earlier on Sep 30, the Bill was discussed at the meeting of the parliamentary standing committee.
 
Apart from senior government officials, representatives of various NGOs were also present at the meeting.
 
From the minutes of the meeting, it has been learnt that the committee has accorded topmost priority to regulate the activities of fake NGOs and to ensure proper utilisation of foreign donations.
 
The NGOs gave their views in writing at the meeting. They said the NGO Bureau was being given excessive power through the proposed law.
 
They also pointed out that if the law was enacted, it would discourage expatriates from taking part in philanthropic activities. Besides, it would increase the chances of tax evasion.