Only nine bills introduced by private members – Members of Parliament who are not ministers or state ministers – have been passed since the first parliament of independent Bangladesh.
Of these, eight were initiated by members of the ruling party or coalition, while only one was brought by an opposition member.
This information was shared during the first meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Private Members' Bills and Private Members' Resolutions on Tuesday.
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Records reveal that no private members' bills were introduced during the first, sixth, and twelfth parliaments.
The sixth parliament lasted only 12 days, while the first and twelfth parliaments had tenures of two years and seven months, and six months and eight days, respectively.
Private members introduced bills for the first time in the second parliament, where 47 were submitted, 20 were placed, but two were passed.
These successful bills were brought by BNP MP Daulatunnessa Khatun and Muslim League MP Ausafur Rahman.
In the third parliament, five bills were introduced, and the Bengali Language Introduction Act, 1987, initiated by Jatiya Party MP TIM Fazle Rabbi Chowdhury, was passed. While six bills were brought in the fourth parliament, none was passed.
In the fifth parliament, 74 bills were submitted, 12 were placed, but one by BNP MP Farida Rahman was passed.
During the seventh parliament, 51 bills were submitted, resulting in the passage of the Father of the Nation's Portrait Preservation and Display Act, 2001, brought by Awami League’s Dewan Farid Gazi. Conversely, in the eighth parliament, the Father of the Nation's Portrait Preservation and Display (Repeal) Act, 2002, initiated by BNP MP Samsul Alam Pramanik, was passed among 54 submitted bills.
The ninth parliament saw the most recent successes, with three bills passed: two by Awami League’s Saber Hossain Chowdhury and one by Mujibul Haque Chunnu of the Jatiya Party. Subsequent parliaments – the 10th and 11th – saw 16 and 10 bills submitted respectively, but none was passed.
The first session of the current 13th parliament began on 12 March and concluded on 30 April.
On the opening day, the committee on Private Members' Bills and Private Members' Resolutions was formed with Md Shahajahan, MP for Noakhali-4, as Chairman.
Presiding over Tuesday’s meeting, the Chairman and committee members recommended that the Legislative Drafting Unit of the Parliament Secretariat remain proactive in providing necessary assistance to MPs for drafting private members' bills.
The committee also discussed the scope of its activities, constitutional provisions, and rules of procedure. Members were urged to play an active role in encouraging MPs to introduce private bills on issues of public importance to make the committee's functions more dynamic.