The High Court (HC) on Thursday issued a rule questioning why the provision of baring government officials from contesting the national election until three years passed after retirement is not unconstitutional. The HC bench of Justice Zafar Ahmed and Justice Md Bashir Ullah issued this rule after hearing the writ petition filed by Brigadier General(Retd) Md Shamim Kamal. Read more: HC issues stay order on cancellation of Hero Alam’s nomination for Bogura by-polls Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Law Secretary, Home Secretary, Public Administration Secretary, Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives Secretary and Lalmonirhat Deputy Commissioner have been asked to respond to the rule within four weeks. Barrister Hasan MS Azim appeared for the writ petitioner in the court. Brigadier General(Retd) Md Shamim Kamal from Lalmonirhat  filed the writ petition on January 15 challenging the provision of Article 12(1) (F) of the Representation of the People's Order 1972 which does not allow military and civilian government officials to contest the national elections until they complete three years of retirement.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is observing the Cyclone Sitrang situation round the clock and giving necessary instructions to government officials so that lives and properties can be protected. “The Prime Minister is giving directives to ministries, directorates and other government offices round the clock,” PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim told UNB. Read: Cyclone Sitrang: Loading, unloading suspended at Chittagong Port; Alert-3 issued He said that the Prime Minister also taking all information from the field level. “She also gave necessary instructions to Awami League leaders regarding this,” PM’s press secretary said. He said that the PM is also communicating with local leaders, including MPs and other public representatives, of her party to gather information fast and has given necessary directives. Read: Cyclone Sitrang: Everything you need to know A monitoring cell, PM’s Disaster Management Coordination and Relief Monitoring Cell, has been opened in the Prime Minister’s Office, as per her instruction. All are requested to communicate with the cell through its hotline numbers. These are: 01769010986, 02-55029550 and 02-58153022. The fax number is 02-9102469.

In a research study Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has allegedly found substantive corruption involving three power plants—two coal fired and one LNG-based—in the country. According to the TIB study presented on Wednesday, the corruption involved at least Tk 390.49 crore which was allegedly grabbed by government officials, local representatives and influential political circles. Moreover, power tariffs were set at higher rates compared with similar projects which also involved corruption, it said. Also read: Amnesty, RSF, TIB lost credibility in Bangladesh, says Info Minister The power plants are: Powerchina consortium’s Barishal 350 MW Coal-based power plant, S Alam Group’s Banshkhali 1320 MW SS Power plant and the state-owned Coal Power Generation Company’s Matarbari 600 MW LNG-based power plant. “We’ve maintained recognized international standards and practices in conducting our research to find out the corruption... We have necessary substantive documents in our hands to prove the allegations”, said Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of the TIB, while briefing reporters virtually during the presentation of the report. Mahfuzul Haque and Newazul Maula of TIB presented the report titled: “Coal and LNG-based Power Projects in Bangladesh: Governance Challenges and Way Out. Iftekharuzzaman said if any individual or civil society representative can move the court on the basis of the allegations his organization will cooperate. “TIB will cooperate with such an initiative as per its policy and standard”, he said, adding that the corruption watchdog body will share the study with the government and other agencies. The TIB said that the land of the projects was purchased by the sponsors of the projects at huge inflated prices to show the higher cost to take financial benefits. Corruption took place in land acquisition as well, it said. The watchdog body found that the existing laws and regulations were not properly followed in purchasing lands and also signing the power purchase contracts with the government. It alleged that the Power and Energy Speedy Supply (Special) Act was used to award the contracts of these power plants to certain companies in order to avert the competitive bidding process despite there being many efficient companies for the projects. They said the Special Act was extended up to 2026 despite the fact that this law has no necessity to exist at this point of time. The TIB also found that some scopes were deliberately kept in the power purchase agreements (PPA) signed with the government to further increase the power tariffs of the plants. Regarding the environmental issues, the TIB said that the department of environment has miserably failed to enforce environmental obligations in implementation of the plants. It said that the government is not moving towards renewable energy options to generate electricity despite its commitment to increase the green energy’s share to 40 per cent in electricity generation. Also read: TIB condemns suspension of TTE, says Railways Minister should resign It observed that despite cancellation of the 12 coal-based power plants, s the share of coal-based power plants is still one-fourth of the total generation. It said there is a lack of commitments on the part of the government to go for renewable energy though its production cost fell by 89 per cent. The government targeted to generate 10 per cent electricity from renewable sources by 2020. But only 2.3 per cent of power now comes from renewable sources, it added. The TIB placed 7-point recommendations for the government which include framing an integrated energy and power master plan keeping the focus on renewable energy, cancellation of Power and Energy Speedy Supply (Special) Act 2010 and not allowing any fossils-fuel based projects after 2022, ensuring transparency, accountability in approving and awarding power projects, suspending all coal projects considering environmental risks and taking legal action against the persons involved in the corruption in power projects.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday stressed the importance of good governance and asked the government officials to devote themselves to serving people to make this society a better place. “I hope you’ll devote yourselves to serving people remaining faithful to the constitutional responsibilities,” she said. The Prime Minister was addressing the certificate-giving and closing ceremony of the 119th and 120th Law and Administration Training Courses at Bangladesh Civil Service Administration Academy in the capital through a videoconference from her official residence Ganobhaban. As per the 7th article of the Constitution, Hasina mentioned,  people are the owners of the country while the 21(2) article of the constitution stated that government employees are bound to serve  people round the clock. Read: Slow progress in Kushtia medical college project: PM orders action She directed the public servants to take innovative initiatives to serve people as the government has prepared a Perspective Plan and is implementing it. “We’ve already attained the status of a developing nation and we’ve to maintain that so that we do not fall behind.” Hasina said it is the desire of all that there will be a service-oriented administration in the country which will innovate new services to serve people. “Stay involved in establishing good governance through proper enforcement of laws, stay beside people, and make sure people get justice and not a single person suffers from starvation, remains homeless, is deprived of treatment and education. Discharge your responsibilities keeping eyes on these issues, we want that,” she said. Talking about the food scarcity in the Covid-19 pandemic across the globe, the Prime Minister said the food scarcity has increased around the world and many countries are suffering from this. “Not a single inch of arable land be left behind from cultivation.” Read: EC to be constituted through search committee: PM Hasina said every piece of land in every area of the country must be put under cultivation to increase production and mentioned that many developed countries are in deplorable condition regarding food production. “We may have to provide food assistance to many developed countries, maybe. Keeping this view in mind, we’ve to make sure there’s no scarcity of food and protein in the country.” Hasina asked all concerned to add more food and processed food items to the country’s export basket. She said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman devoted his entire life towards changing the fate of people as they were poor and destitute. “So, you’ll have to think about them (people) and work to change their fortune.” The government wants to build Bangladesh as a hunger- and poverty-free non-communal country where everyone will live with dignity, she added. Hasina said the government wants to develop government employees suitable for keeping the pace of the world to develop the country further. She asked the trained officers to utilise their knowledge acquired in the training course for the development of the country. Read: PM greets Chinese leaders on founding anniversary, hopes stronger cooperation Presided over by State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain, the function was addressed, among others, by Public Administration senior Secretary KM Ali Azam and Rector of the BCS Administration Mominur Rashid Amin. On behalf of the Prime Minister, Farhad Hossain handed over the awards to the best performers of the 119th and 120th training courses respectively. Two fresh officers and rector award winners -- Swikriti Pramanik of the 119th course and Umme Salma Naznin Tosha of the 120th course -- spoke at the function on behalf of the participants of the training course. A video documentary on Bangladesh Civil Service Administration Academy was played at the programme.

Some 290 government officials are currently serving as officers on special duty (OSD) while 177 officials and employees are working at different ministries and departments on contract basis.