Four-month delay in tabling bill prompts Deputy Speaker to warn ministers

Deputy Speaker of the National Parliament Barrister Kaiser Kamal has warned ministers for failing to present bills in Parliament on time after they are approved by the cabinet.

The Deputy Speaker expressed his displeasure during Monday's (9 November) sitting of Parliament, which he was chairing, after Housing and Public Works Minister Zakaria Taher tabled the 'Bogura Development Authority Bill, 2026'.

Minister Zakaria Taher introduced the draft bill, titled the 'Bogura Development Authority Bill, 2026', in the House in the evening session of the day.

The Deputy Speaker raised the issue that four months had passed since the cabinet approved the draft of the Bogura Development Authority Act before the bill was brought to Parliament. The cabinet gave its final approval to the draft bill at its meeting on 23 July.

The Deputy Speaker has previously warned the House on the same issue, when the ministry delayed sending a bill to Parliament.

The Deputy Speaker said: 'In these four months, why did this bill come so late from your executive side that I had to use my prerogative — condonation of time? I am giving permission. But I think I have said this in Parliament once or twice before: there is enough time, yet the executive does not send the bill to the legislature on time. That is why members cannot see the bill.'

Addressing the minister, he said: 'You may table it, but please be careful next time.'

Following the Deputy Speaker's warning, the bill was tabled in Parliament. But the session once again raised the question of why bills are repeatedly delayed on their way from cabinet approval to Parliament.