Special committee okays 54 ordinances.................

The special parliamentary committee, formed to examine the ordinances made by the caretaker government, recommended passage of 54 out of 122 ordinances on Sunday.

"The recommended ordinances will be tabled as bills in the House within the next seven days," law minister Shafiq Ahmed told reporters after a meeting of the committee.

Committee chairman Rahmat Ali said the final list of 54 would be presented to parliament on Tuesday.

He said the relevant ministries could make the remaining 68 ordinances into laws if they desired.

"We have selected those laws considering the jurisdiction of the caretaker government under Article 58 (D) of the Constitution, and the public interest aspect of the ordinances," Rahmat Ali said.

According to Article 58 (D), the tenure of any caretaker government should be 90 days.

The Constitution does not authorise any interim government to take any policy decisions other than for holding elections, regular work, law and order and budgetary activities.

The High Court had issued a directive to the caretaker government last year not to make any law other than those relating to the general election.

But the interim government promulgated 119 ordinances, most of which were not related to the elections.

The previous BNP-led government passed three ordinances at the end of its term.

"We have examined the ordinances and decided to pick up some considering their public importance, though they do not fall under article 58 (D)," Rahmat Ali said.

Law minister Shafiq Ahmed told US : "This is not an unconstitutional decision. This has been done considering the public interest aspect of the ordinances."

He said, "Article 58 (D) cannot be made a watertight compartment. The caretaker government can promulgate people-oriented ordinances, if necessary, to run its administration".

However, a six-member advisory panel of legal experts differed with the law minister.

"We have recommended that only 31 ordinances can constitutionally be made into laws," Barrister M Zahir, who attended all three meetings of the committee, told journalists.

"They (the interim government) had no authority to promulgate any ordinance involving any policy decision under Article 58 (D)," Zahir said.

Another legal expert Mahmudul Islam concurred, saying the advisory panel picked just 31 ordinances considering the jurisdiction of the caretaker government under Article 58 (D).

"But it is up to the parliament to decide the final number," said Zahir.

Presided over by Rahmat Ali, the special committee meeting was attended by Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Rashed Khan Menon, law minister Shafique Ahmed, Fazle Rabbi Mia, Nurul Islam Sujan, Fazle Noor Taposh and Badul Matin Khasru.

Parliament formed the 15-member special committee on Jan 28 to vet the ordinances promulgated by the military-installed caretaker government during its tenure from Jan 12, 2007 to Jan 6, 2009.