Minimum 8th grade edn for drivers [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Minimum 8th grade edn for drivers

Local March 28, 2017

The cabinet on Monday approved in principle the draft ‘Road Transport Bill, 2017’ making minimum eighth grade education mandatory for obtaining driving licence and doubling jail term for driving motor vehicles without licence.
The draft proposed one-month jail and Tk 5,000 in fine for men who would occupy the seats reserved for women, children and disabled people in public transports.
‘The draft Road Transport Bill has been prepared in keeping with regional and international links to replace the Motor Vehicle Ordinance of 1983,’ cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told a press briefing after the meeting at the secretariat.
The draft proposed introduction of point system as in many other countries where a driver’s points (each having 12 points) would be deducted for committing offences, he mentioned.
The road transport and highways division placed the draft bill in the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Taking part in a discussion on the draft, finance minister AMA Muhith said the capital punishment should be incorporated in the new law for accidents causing deaths as the draft proposed a three-year jail term and Tk 25 lakh in fines as maximum punishment for offences under the law, a minister told New Age.
Several cabinet ministers hailed the move, saying the proposed law that contains 25 point directives for operating motor vehicles would help bring back discipline to the road transport sector, the minister said.
Any offences for which one shall be punished with six months’ jail or a fine of Tk 50,000 or above would be cognizable and the police could arrest the offender without warrant in these cases, he said.
One would be jailed for one month and fined Tk 5,000 for using mobile phone while driving, the cabinet secretary added.
The new law would require the drivers’ assistants in public transports to be literate, Shafiul mentioned, saying these provisions were incorporated in the proposed law.
Toad accidents causing deaths or serious injuries would be penalised as usual under the 1860 Penal Code, which stipulates capital punishment for culpable homicide amounting to murder and life in prison for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, he said.
A driver will be punished with maximum three years in jail and Tk 25 lakh in fines for reckless driving causing accidents, according to the draft.
The age limit for general drivers has been kept at 18 years and for professional drivers at 21 as in the existing law.
The punishment for driving any vehicle without valid driving licence has been increased to maximum six months in jail and Tk 50,000 in fines from three months’ jail and Tk 5,000 in fines while jail term for fake licence remained two years but the fine has been raised to three lakh from one lakh.
The draft also incorporates a new provision requiring the conductors to get licences and, in default, they would be punished with maximum one month in jail and a fine of Tk 25,000.
The cabinet secretary said that the punishment for diving vehicle without fitness certificate would be maximum one year in jail and Tk 1 lakh in fines.
Various civil society organisaitons have long been demanding inclusion of capital punishment for reckless driving that often cause fatal accidents.
In an instant reaction, Passengers Welfare Association of Bangladesh said that the government’s commitment to making a tough law to check fatal accidents was not reflected in the draft endorsed by the cabinet.
It demanded inclusion of stringent provisions to check accidents as well as criminal activities like extortions and vandalism in the transport sector.
The cabinet also approved draft ‘Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute Bill, 2017 to replace an old law of 1984 and the draft ‘International Mother Language Institute (Amendment) Bill’ to replace the post of director-general with director, according to the cabinet secretary.
International Mother Language Institute’s top post would be director from now on as the top post of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation was director-general, Shafiul explained.