The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The Council of Advisers yesterday approved in principle the draft of an ordinance to empower executive magistrates to conduct mobile courts and mete out spot punishment for some offences like copying in examination halls.

The approval was given at a meeting of the Council of Advisers held at the Chief Adviser's Office with Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair.

The ordinance initiated by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs is being felt necessary to help executive magistrates to retain some judicial powers, as the separation of judiciary from the executive takes effect from November 1.

The said ordinance is expected to be finalised at a special meeting of the Council of Advisers scheduled to be held today (Sunday).

The meeting decided to bring the mortal remains of Beershrestha Hamidur Rahman in the country from Tripura in India before December 16, the Independence Day and reburied at Mirpur Martyred Intellectuals' Graveyard with state honour.

A five-member Bangladesh team will go to India and look after the bringing of the mortal remains from India.

The three-hour meeting discussed different aspects of the coordinated multipurpose transport policy draft and sent it to the Ministry concerned for further scrutiny.

The meeting emphasised the need for determining as to what sort of transport policy should be adopted for the towns.

The meeting decided that all the advisers would regularly visit different districts to know problems being faced by the people and the administration and have exchange of views with them.

The Advisers would also see whether the farmers are getting fertilizer being given at subsidised rates.

From now on, the regular meeting of the Council of Advisers would be held on every Sunday to make field visits of the Advisers convenient.

The meeting also discussed the government initiative to deal with the price hike and the state of distribution of fertilizer among the farmers.

Briefing journalists Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Syed Fahim Munaim said there should be a monitoring system to control the price hike.

He, however, said that international price has an adverse impact on the increase of prices of essential commodities as the country mostly depended on import of those items.