The ‘Overseas Employment and Migrant Workers Bill, 2013′ got the cabinet nod on Monday keeping the highest 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and Tk 500,000 fine for violation of immigration law.
The approval was given in the regular weekly meeting of the cabinet held with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The draft law also proposed seven years rigorous imprisonment and fine of Tk 300,000 for any forgery of the demand letter, visa and work permit.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said in case of publishing of any fake advertisement, the law proposed seven years rigorous imprisonment and fine of Tk 300,000.
The previous law that was enacted in 1982 had the provision of maximum one year imprisonment and highest Tk 5,000 fine for all types of rules violation.
The cabinet secretary said the cabinet has given final approval to a tougher law to make the activities of the overseas recruiting agencies transparent, ensure their accountability and protecting the rights and interests of the migrant workers.
He said the law has proposed provisions to deliver justice against the offenses in connection with overseas employment.
Ministers, state ministers in charge of different ministries and secretaries concerned attended the cabinet meeting held at the cabinet room of the Bangladesh Secretariat.
The proposed new law will replace the existing ‘Immigration Ordinance 1982′ for recruiting agencies to check forgery, deception and illegal practice to protect the interests of the overseas job seekers and migrants and their welfare, Bhuiyan said.
The proposed law has provision of filing case by an aggrieved person against the recruiting agency in the court.
It also has specific guideline about the procedure of filing cases, acceptability of the cases, bail and compensation, he said.
The cabinet secretary mentioned that the ministry placed the draft law on April 15 last and the cabinet sent it to the law ministry for vetting with some observations.
“After vetting, the law ministry sent the draft law again for final approval,” he said.
The cabinet meeting also approved a work plan conceptualising the perspectives of Bangladesh to execute the Istanbul Programme of Action adopted in the Forth UN Conference on LDCs to enable the country to graduate and come out from the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
Source: The Daily Star
