United News of Bangladesh

Parliament on Thursday witnessed an unusual and unprecedented debate after the passage of two key financial sector bills, despite no provision in the rules of procedure allowing discussion once a bill has been passed. The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (Amendment) Bill 2026 and the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill 2026 were passed in Parliament by a voice vote after Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury moved those. After the passage of the two bills, there was a debate between the treasury and opposition benches. Except for independent MP elected from Brahmanbaria-2 Rumeen Farhana, no one else had proposed sending the two bills to the public opinion or scrutiny committee. As a result, no member except Rumeen got the opportunity to discuss the bill. But several members of the opposition party raised their hands to discuss the bill. In her discussion, Rumeen Farhana said one of the pillars of the Bangladesh economy is the insurance sector. “If we discuss it honestly, the condition of the insurance sector is not very good.” In response, the Finance Minister said he completely agreed that the insurance industry in Bangladesh is going through a very difficult situation. “Many insurance companies have been born due to mismanagement, corruption and government patronage. Those who do not care about the law and regulations.” At this stage, several members of the opposition bench sought a chance to speak. Deputy Speaker Kayser Kamal said there is no chance for speaking at this stage. However, he gave a chance to Leader of the Opposition Dr Shafiqur Rahman. Shafiqur Rahman said they did not get the papers of the bills in due time, calling for suspending the bills. However, the Deputy Speaker said, according to the rules, the reports of the bills were given on Wednesday, and then he proceeded with the process of passing the bills and those were passed. Then National Citizen Party MP Akhter Hossen said two laws have just been passed, questioning the aim of the amendments. Referring to the lifting of age cap in the Securities and Exchange Commission Act and the Insurance Corporation Act, he said, "Is this being done keeping a person in mind or a policy in mind? Our idea is that if the age constraints of this law are lifted, keeping some special people in mind, like an appointment to the Bangladesh Bank, then it will create a contradiction from the place where the minister talked about skilled and qualified people. The law has been passed, but we are expressing our concerns here on behalf of the opposition party.” Akhter said when the BNP came to power in 2001, they increased the age limit of the Chief Justice from 65 to 67 to appoint the caretaker government chief adviser as per their own wishes. “After that, the nation had to endure a long suffering.” At this stage, the Speaker requested the Finance Minister to say if he had anything to say. At that time, Khosru said in almost every country in the world where the Securities Exchange Commission is operating successfully, there is no such obstacle. “If qualified and skilled people want to come here, you have to keep these in mind.” Then the opposition leader stood up again, saying qualified people need to be given space in the right place. “Morning shows the day. All the activities of the government in the basic areas like the Bangladesh Bank in the last two months have gone against the wishes of the people.” He referred to the appointment of the current central bank governor and the dismissal of the former one. “All the changes that have been made so far are not supported by the people and the democracy. We could not even keep the playing field open. We went there and got into trouble too.” Shafiqur Rahman said if everything is politicised and groups and families are given in particular areas, the country will not move forward. In response, the Finance Minister said there was no opportunity for such discussions after a bill was passed. He said every time the BNP has come to power, all the appointments made in the Bangladesh Bank and Securities Exchange Commission have been non-political. Khosru said the BB governor is not a member of any party. “The performance of the governor is better than the performance of any other governors.” He referred to the increase in the age limit of the BB governor in the past, saying the current opposition did not raise any objection at that time. The Finance Minister said the Prime Minister has already decided that no political figure will be given an appointment in the financial sector. Then Deputy Leader of the Opposition Syed Abdullah Md Taher said, "The Prime Minister has decided not to appoint party members to any financial institution. We are very happy if that is the case. I will thank him for that.” But, he said, the current BB governor has an identity. “That is, he was a member of the BNP election steering committee.” When the Speaker asked the Finance Minister to clarify the issue, he said supporting a party does not mean that the person is a party member. “And supporting a party in election activities does not mean being a party member. Surely many people from your party have helped with your election activities. Those who are not from your party."

Two separate bills were passed in Parliament on Tuesday bringing amendments to remove the maximum age limit for the posts of Chairman and Commissioner of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and Chairman and Member of Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA). With the passage of the two bills, the government will be able to appoint chairmen of any age in the two regulatory bodies. Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury separately moved the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (Amendment) Bill 2026 and the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill 2026 in Parliament. Later, the two bills were passed through a voice vote. According to the existing law, if a person completes the age of 65, he/she is not considered eligible to be appointed as the Chairman or Commissioner of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, nor can he/she continue in office. It has been proposed to delete this provision in the bill. On the other hand, the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority Act states that a person cannot become the chairman or member of the Insurance Development Authority if he or she is 67 years of age. The bill brought to Parliament proposes to remove this provision. Separate statements containing the purpose and reasons for the two bills state that the laws need to be made timely to appoint experienced, skilled and knowledgeable persons to take important decisions. The two bills were introduced in Parliament on Tuesday when those were sent to a special parliamentary committee for scrutiny in the absence of the parliamentary committee related to the ministry concerned.

Parliament passed a total of 12 bills on Thursday including the National Human Rights Commission (Repeal and Re-introduction) Bill, 2026, in bid to endorse or repeal the relevant ordinances promulgated during the interim government. Of the bills, nine were passed keeping the provisions of the ordinances intact while three others were passed by repealing earlier ordinances. Among the three bills passed to repeal the ordinances, the House passed the National Human Rights Commission (Repeal and Re-introduction) Bill, 2026 in order to reinstate the National Human Rights Commission Act, 2009, by repealing the relevant ordinance released during the interim government. The relevant ministers or state ministers placed and moved the bills in the House and the Speaker piloted the bills to votes. Later, Members of Parliament (MPs) passed the bills by voice votes. The nine bills passed retaining the interim government’s ordinances include: National Sports Council (Amendment) Bill, 2026, Bangabandhu Krirasebi Kalyan Foundation (Amendment) Bill, 2026, Sheikh Hasina National Youth Development Institute (Amendment) Bill, 2026, Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Overseas Employment and Migrants (Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, Local Government (Union Parishad) (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and the Legal Aid Services (Amendment) Bill, 2026. The two other bills passed to repeal the earlier ordinances are the Supreme Court Secretariat (Repeal) Bill, 2026 and the Supreme Court Judges Appointment (Repeal) Bill, 2026 – repealing the two relevant ordinances released during the interim government.