The cabinet on Monday approved in principle the draft Overseas Employment and Migrant Workers Bill 2013 stipulating a maximum punishment of seven years jail and Tk one lakh in fine for irregularities in visa trading in sending workers abroad.
The Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment placed the draft bill at the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina at the Secretariat.
Officials later said that the draft bill was prepared in the wake of rampant incidents of fraudulence and harassments experienced by workers seeking employment abroad.
The draft bill proposes to repeal the 1982 Immigration Ordinance.
The new bill seeks to introduce stringent punishments for the recruitment agencies for cheating the workers seeking overseas jobs, additional cabinet division secretary Murtaza Ahmed later told reporters.
It would, following enactment, ensure rights and welfare of these workers, he said.
The new bill stipulates five years’ imprisonment and Tk one lakh in fine for cheating workers aspiring to get jobs abroad or those working in other countries, he added.
It would enable the cheated workers to go to courts to seek redress, he said.
The proposed law would specify the offences in the schedule of the Mobile Court Act 2009, Murtaza said.
He said that the existing law empowers a magistrate to fine an offender a maximum fine of Tk 10,000.
The proposed law stipulates a wide range of punishments and a maximum fine of Tk one lakh for the offences against overseas job seekers, he said.
It would require the courts to dispose of the cases filed by the aspiring overseas job seekers or those working abroad within four months of charge framing, he said.
The courts would have to record a reasonable ground for the failure to dispose of cases within the stipulated time or for seeking extra time, states the draft bill.
Murtaza said the main objectives of the proposed law were to make the recruitment agencies accountable and transparent and ensure the rights and welfare of these workers.
The draft law contains 61 clauses under seven sections.
The cabinet also gave final approval to the draft Bangla Academy Bill 2013 to bring the activities of the institution under a legal framework.
The existing law, ‘The Bengali Academy Ordinance 1978’, which was amended in 1983, is in English and the proposed law would be in Bangla, he said.
He said the responsibilities of Bangla Academy include standardization of spelling method of Bangla language, taking advices from experts in important academic matters and inviting foreign writers and researchers for the development of the language.
The cabinet endorsed in principle the draft Bangla Academy Bill on December 31, 2012, he said. (Source)
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