17th amendment proposal to constitution gets nod

The cabinet on Monday approved a Constitution (17th amendment) Bill 2018 allowing continuation of 50 reserved seats for women in Jatiya Sangsad for next 25 years as their tenure would expire after the dissolution of parliament in existence.

The cabinet approved the constitution (17th amendment) Bill 2018 allowing ‘continuation of 50 reserved seats for women in Jatiya Sangsad for next 25 years effective from next parliament’, cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told reporters at a briefing at the Bangladesh Secretariat after the cabinet meeting.

The meeting chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina was held at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Fifteen seats were reserved for women in the original constitution framed in 1972 to ensure women’s representation in JS for 10 years and later in 1978 the number of reserved seats was increased to 30 for 15 more years. And through the 14th amendment, the number was increased to 45, which was later increased to 50 through the 15th amendment.

The cabinet also approved a draft of Digital Security Bill keeping a provision of 14 years’ imprisonment and Tk 1 crore as fine.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net