Cabinet approves bill to upgrade airports
It was approved to fulfill the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization
UNB
The Cabinet yesterday gave the final approval to the draft of The Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority Bill, 2016, aiming to upgrade the countrys all airports to international standard ones, reports UNB.
The approval came from the regular weekly cabinet meeting held at the Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam briefed reporters.
He said the draft of the Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority Bill, 2016 was approved to replace the existing Bangladesh Civil Aviation Ordinance 1985 and fulfill the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
According to the draft law, Shafiul Alam said, the Civil Aviation Authority will be formed with a Chairman as its head along with six members and all of them will be appointed by the government.
The Chairman can convene a meeting of the Authority whenever he or she wishes while the quorum will be fulfilled with the attendance of at least three of its members.
He said there will also be a high-powered governing body to supervise the operations, and policy-level decision making on finance of the Civil Aviation Authority with Minister of the Civil Aviation or State Minister or Deputy Minister as its Chairman and Secretary as ex-officio will be the Vice-Chairman while Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority will work as its member secretary.
Secretaries of the ministries concerned, including Land, Defence, Relief and Disaster Management, Finance, Legislative and Parliament, Home and Health and Family Welfare as well as NBR Chairman will be members of the governing body.
The Cabinet Secretary said the Civil Aviation Authority will get all the power to deal with the issues regarding air traffic management like providing aeronautical communication services at the civil air bases of the country, flight inspection, enquiry and rescue.
Besides, the authority will also provide services to the planes crashed or damaged at any airport or air base of the country, ensure security, protect civil airways flight operation as well as ensure management of the property under the Civil Aviation Authority.
About the power of the authority to impose various fees, Shafiul Alam said, it could realise premium, service charge, rent and royalty for using property of the authority, security fee as well as other fees subject to prior approval from the government.
The Cabinet also approved in principle the draft of the Accreditation Council Bill, 2016, in a bid to ensure expected standard of higher education in the country and thus upgrade the standard of higher educational institutions to international standards.
The Cabinet Secretary said this is going to be an epoch making law to bring the public and public universities into a certain standard.
He said the council would be comprised of 11 members, including one chairman, one full-time member from UGC, four professors, one additional secretary from the Ministry of Education, one representative from the Association of Universities of Bangladesh, representatives from the professionals, quality assurance and accreditation experts and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI).
All of them will be appointed by the government.
Under the law, Shafiul Alam said rules will be formulated to deal with the issues like application process of accreditation certificates, approval of the applications or their denial, legality and cancellation of the accreditation certificates.
He said as per the section 17 of the draft law, any aggrieved person or institution could file review with the Council.
Under the section 19, the Cabinet Secretary said that no educational institution could publish advertisement or prospectus that it is accredited without getting the accreditation certificate.
On violation of the law, the draft bill kept provision for cancellation of accreditation certificates of the concerned higher educational institutions.
Alam said a proposal for formation of The Container Company of Bangladesh Ltd was approved by the cabinet to run Bangladesh Railway Container Transportation Services through an independent company.
Ministers and state ministers and secretaries concerned attended the meeting.
