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The cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission against former prime minister Kaleda Zia, her sons, Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman, her cabinet colleagues, Moudud Ahmed and Nazmul Huda, and Nazmul’s wife Sigma Huda were challenged in the High Court on Thursday.
   They filed six writ petitions challenging the cases and the writs would be heard one after another by the High Court bench of Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Zobayer Rahman Chowdhury in the next week.
   After filing Khaleda’s writ, her counsel Rafique-ul Huq told reporters the writ might be heard on Sunday.
   As Khaleda, also the BNP chairperson, is in jail, Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas filed the writ petition through a power of attorney on permission from the bench.
   The petition was filed challenging the government and the commission’s move of bringing the GATCO graft case against Khaleda, Arafat and 11 others in the ambit of the apparently unassailable Emergency Powers Rules.
   Arafat also filed a separate writ petition challenging the same matter.
   Moudud, Nazmul and Tarique filed three writ petitions challenging the legality of the cases the commission filed against them for acquiring illegal wealth and hiding facts in their wealth statements.
   Sigma filed another writ petition challenging the commission’s case against her husband, Nazmul Huda, in which she was accused of abetting Nazmul in the offences.
   The commission’s deputy director Golam Shahriar Chowdhury filed the corruption case on September 2 with the Tejgaon police against 13 people, including Khaleda and Arafat for awarding a contract to ‘an incompetent and unfit firm, Global Agro Trade Company,’ to handle containers at the Inland Container Depot in Dhaka and at Chittagong port allegedly for bribe. The police arrested Khaleda and Arafat the next day.
   In their petitions, Khaleda and Arafat claimed the commission and the government had brought the case under the Emergency Powers Rules in violation of the constitution and law.
   As the alleged offence was committed much earlier than the enforcement of the Emergency Powers Rules and the Emergency Powers Ordinance, under which the rules was framed, the case cannot be brought under the emergency rules, the petitions said.
   In the petitions, they sought ad interim bail and stay on the proceedings of the case under the Emergency Powers Rules.
   On similar grounds, the same High Court bench on July 30 and August 7 issued two rules on the government asking it to explain the legality of bringing the two extortion cases against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, filed by two businessmen, Azam J Chowdhury and Noor Ali, under the emergency rules, would not be declared illegal.
   The court also ordered the government not to proceed with the cases under the emergency rules and granted Hasina ad interim bail after hearing two writ petitions filed by Hasina.
   The petitions are still pending with the court.
   Four other writ petitions, filed by Moudud, Huda, Tarique and Sigma were the first-ever petitions challenging the legality of any case filed by the commission for acquiring illegal wealth and concealing information in the wealth statements.
   Hasina, however, filed a writ petition challenging legality of the commission’s notification, issued on July 17 asking her to submit her wealth statement and the same High Court bench on August 7 issued a rule on the commission to explain he legality of the notification.
   The case is still pending.

The national coordination committee on corruption and serious crimes on Thursday made another list of more than 80 people as part of the drive against high-profile corruption suspects.
   The government is yet to make any official announcement in this regard.
   With the latest list, the coordination committee has so far made four lists of 222 corruption suspects, including politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats, since March 8 when it was formed with effect from February 4.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission has so far notified 141 people, including the detained former prime ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, named on the lists,
   to submit their wealth statements.
   The national coordination committee made the list at its meeting in its office in the army headquarters on Thursday with its chairman MA Matin, also the communications adviser, in the chair, said a source attending the meeting.
   The committee has made the lists based on inquiries carried out by the army-led anti-graft task forces working under the committee since March.
   The task forces will wind up the anti-graft drives by end-September in accordance with announcement made by the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, the committee chairman, MA Matin, and the army chief, Moeen U Ahmed, said the source.
   The list includes 23 BNP men, 10 from the Awami League, two each from the Jatiya Party and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, 12 top businessmen, and more than 30 civil bureaucrats.

Seven foreign and 29 private commercial banks have fixed their farm lending targets at about Tk 1,067 crore for the current 2007-08 fiscal year as they are gradually finding agriculture sector as a viable investment destination.
   The banks have informed the Bangladesh Bank recently about their enhanced investment plan in the agriculture sector.
   The targeted amount will be pumped into areas like cultivation, agro-processing and distribution, poultry farming and tea gardening, central bank officials said.
   The private and foreign banks have decided to expand their investment in the agriculture sector following a call from central bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed to support post-flood agricultural rehabilitation. But the amount is far less compared to the money, set aside for the farm sector by state-owned lenders despite their huge bad debts and capital shortfall.
   Four state-owned commercial lenders and two specialised agricultural banks have still been at the forefront of investment in agriculture, which is the lifeline of rural economy. The six banks have planned to channel Tk 6,600 crore in the agriculture sector this fiscal and some of them have taken up steps to make the loan disbursement faster and hassle-free.
   According to the investment plan of foreign banks, Standard Chartered Bank fixed a target of Tk 15 crore for lending in agriculture sector, State Bank of India Tk five crore, Citibank NA Tk 70 crore, Commercial Bank of Ceylon Ltd Tk 15 crore, National Bank of Pakistan Tk 21.75 crore, HSBC Tk 15 crore and Bank Al Falah Tk 15 crore during the current fiscal year.
   According to banking sources, major clients of the foreign banks are corporate entities, and they concentrate mainly on trade financing while selling limited services to medium and small enterprises in some special categories.
   ‘Potentials in the agriculture sector are immense and return on investment from the sector is also high, which prompted entrepreneurs and banking companies to gradually shift their focus on the sector,’ an executive of Citibank NA told New Age.
   The New York-based global bank has more than doubled its farm lending target to Tk 70 crore this year from Tk 30 crore of the previous fiscal year, he said.
   Among the private commercial banks, Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd earmarked the single highest amount of Tk 274 crore for farm lending, followed by Arab Bangladesh Bank with Tk 100 crore.
   City Bank will finance Tk 75 crore, Pubali Bank Tk 51 crore, Eastern Bank Tk 46 crore, National Bank Tk 33.38 crore; Shahjalal Islami Bank, Dutch Bangla Bank and BASIC Bank Tk 30 crore each; IFIC Bank, Uttara Bank, Trust Bank, Mercantile Bank and Exim Bank Tk 20 crore each; Commerce Bank Tk 18 crore; Prime Bank Tk 17.35 crore; One Bank and Jamuna Bank Tk 15 crore each; BRAC Bank Tk 12.20 crore; National Credit and Commerce Tk 10.95 crore; and First Security Bank and Social Investment Bank Tk 10 crore each.
   United Commercial Bank, Southeast Bank, Standard Bank, Mutual Trust Bank and Premier Bank will invest Tk five crore each in the agriculture sector, while Al Arafah Islami Bank earmarked Tk two crore, Dhaka Bank Tk 1.50 crore and Bank Asia Tk one crore as farm credit.
   Though most of the private banks have kept their farm credit too small compared to their investments in other areas, many of them informed the central bank that they had enhanced the target by 100 to 200 times of the previous year’s total.
   The central bank, however, welcomed the positive gesture of the private and foreign banks towards lending in the agriculture sector.
   ‘We are happy to see that both private and foreign banks have shown their deep interest in investing enhanced amount of money in the agriculture sector in the current fiscal,’ a high official in the central bank told New Age.
   ‘Traditional lending only from state-owned banks is not enough for rapid expansion of agro-based industry,’ he pointed out.
   A top banker in the NCCBL said they have planned to invest about Tk 11 crore in the agriculture sector in the current fiscal year, up from about Tk four crore of the year-ago period.
   ‘We have been getting tremendous response from potential investors in agriculture sector as the profit margin in this sector is high,’ a high official of the National Credit and Commerce Bank Ltd told New Age.
   The private sector bank has been lending in maize cultivation and processing outlets in various areas of Lalmonirhat district, including Patgram and Angorpota, for the last three years. It will expand the activities to more areas.

The judiciary will become independent of the executive after a break of 22 years and eight months, still on paper though, on October 1 as the Supreme Court on Thursday decided to give effect to the amended Code of Criminal Procedure on the date.
   The full court meeting of the Supreme Court, attended by all the Supreme Court judges chaired by the chief justice, M Ruhul Amin, decided that the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance, which amended the criminal procedure code on February 11 in accordance with the directives of the Supreme Court, will come into effect on October 1.
   By setting in motion the penultimate step towards making the judiciary independent, the interim government on June 27 published two gazette notifications to be in force on July 1 on the Bangladesh Judicial Service (Constitution, Recruitment and Suspension and Termination) Rules 2007 and the Bangladesh Judicial Service (Posting, Promotion, Leave, Control, Discipline and Other Conditions of Service) Rules 2007.
   The rules were given effect in keeping with the Supreme Court’s advice. The full-court reference (meeting) of the Supreme Court of May 10 decided to put in force the two sets of rules on the judicial service on July 1.
   The rules, along with the Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission Rules 2007 and the Bangladesh Judicial Service Pay Commission Rules, were framed on January 16.
   The legislations were made to effect the 12-point Supreme Court directives, detailed in the judgement in the Masder Hossain case, aimed at the separation of the judiciary.
   The case is widely known as the separation of judiciary case. The judgement was delivered on December 2, 1999.
   Once the amended Code of Criminal Procedure comes into effect, the judicial service, including judicial magistracy, will come under the direct supervision and control of the Supreme Court.
   The president will need to exercise his duties regarding the appointment, posting, control and discipline of the service in consultation with the Supreme Court.
   The judiciary had enjoyed complete independence till January 25, 1975. According to the constitution, framed in 1972, the control and supervision of the judicial service was vested in the Supreme Court.
   The fourth amendment to the constitution, made on January 25, 1972, put the judicial service under the control and supervision of the president, making the judiciary subservient to the executive.
   Since then, the service of the magistrates, who perform judicial functions as officials of the administrative service, have been controlled and supervised by the president, although he has to consult with the Supreme Court in exercising his powers regarding the judicial service.
   According to the rules, from now on, the president will need to exercise his powers regarding the judicial service, including judicial magistracy, in consultation with the Supreme Court.
   In the case of any difference of opinion between the president and the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court’s opinion will prevail, the rules said.
   The judiciary is, however, not being separated completely right at the moment as the existing magistrates, who are members of the administrative service, will continue as judicial magistrates for an interim period.
   The rules stipulate that the existing magistrates, willing to work in the judiciary, will be absorbed into the judicial service for three years. In the meantime, the required number of magistrates will be appointed for the judicial service.
   According to the report submitted to the Supreme Court by the government on April 15, only 31 of the existing magistrates have opted in to the judicial service. One of them has, meanwhile, died.
   The number of cases pending with the magistrate’s courts across the country as of February 28 is 4,84,832 and at least 890 magistrates are required to deal with such cases, the report said.
   According to sources in the law ministry, no more magistrates have so far expressed their willingness to work with the judiciary.
   On the other hand, the government on September 13 created 4,273 positions in the judicial magistracy, including only 655 for judicial magistrates.
   The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on September 18 ordered the government to arrange temporary accommodation for judicial magistrates in courtrooms and chambers, now used by executive magistrates in discharging judicial duties.
   The full court of the Appellate Division also asked the government to report back on the compliance of the order by October 29.
   Posting for October 31 further order in this regard, the court said it would be the last chance and the government would be given no more time to arrange temporary accommodations for judicial magistracy.
   It also ordered the public works ministry to arrange temporary courtrooms and chambers for 431 judicial magistrates who are yet to get any accommodation, and report to the court on October 29 on the progress in the implementation of the order.
   Meanwhile, 30, out of about 890, magistrates opted in to the judicial service against 890 such posts required to deal with pending cases.
   According to the rules, the authorities concerned (the law ministry) will need to call for application, within 60 days, from the existing magistrates willing to work with the judicial service.
   A selection committee will need to recommend eligible candidates for the absorption after scrutiny within 90 days and the ministry will issue the absorption orders within 120 more days.
   The magistrates absorbed will, however, have the scope to opt back to the administrative service.
   The rules also stipulate that the posts, which will remain vacant after absorption, can be filled in with the existing magistrates or officials of the administrative service on deputation.
   They will be phased out by December 31, 2011 and the required number of judicial officers will be appointed by the time.
   According to the rules and the amended Code of Criminal Procedure, the country will have from October 1 two sets of magistrates — judicial and executive — to deal with different functions.
   The country will also have separate criminal courts — courts of sessions and courts of magistrates — and all of them will be run by judicial officers.

The finance ministry has provided Tk 100 crore in subsidies to the Power Development Board to enable it to cope with the losses that it is incurring by selling electricity at a price that is lower than the cost of generation.
   The ministry released the fund — Tk 50 crore each for the months of July and August — earlier this week when the PDB sought the subsidies after the government decided to defer the price hike of electricity at the consumer level, said sources in the Power Division.
   They said that finance ministry might provide PDB Tk 600 crore in total in the current fiscal year if the latter continues to incur losses even after the power price is hiked in the coming months.
   The Power Division in May forwarded a proposal to increase the price of electricity by Tk 0.45 at the consumer level and Tk 0.37 at the distribution agency level in three phases from July 1 to June 30, 2008, to reduce PDB’s loss. The PDB will incur a loss of around Tk 1,400 crore because of the gap between the cost of generating electricity and its selling price, and also because of system loss.
   The division, however, observed that even if the proposal of price-hike was accepted by the government, the PDB will continue to incur losses as there will be some gap between generation cost and selling price.
   The government, however, deferred the price hike of electricity and is likely to take a decision after Eid-ul Fitr.
   ‘The finance ministry is likely to give the PDB subsidies till it reaches a break-even point by increasing the price of electricity,’ said a Power Division source.
   Sources in the PDB said that it would give Tk 100 crore that it will get from the finance ministry to Petrobangla to reduce its outstanding gas and coal bills.
   The PDB owes Petrobangla around Tk 500 crore in outstanding gas and coal bills.
   Sources in the energy division, however, said that Petrobangla would repay China’s loan, which it took for developing the Barapukuria coal-mine, with the money it will get from the PDB.

Security forces swept through Myanmar’s main city Thursday, killing nine people including a Japanese journalist, and arresting hundreds more in a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.
   At least 50,000 people, many of them youths and students, swarmed into Yangon undeterred by the deaths the day before of at least four protesters, including three Buddhist monks, and repeatedly defied orders to disperse.
   As the shots rang out, they ran for their lives, only to regroup and face down the might of Myanmar’s junta which has exerted iron rule over the impoverished country for more than four decades.
   In six hours of chaotic protests, state media said nine people were killed and another 11 protesters injured including one woman.
   ‘The protesters threw bricks, sticks and knives at the security forces, so because of the desperate situation the security forces had to fire warning shots,’ it said, adding 31 police and soldiers were also wounded.
   Japanese national Kenji Nagai, 50, a journalist for Tokyo-based video and photo agency APF News, is the first foreign victim of the crackdown.
   It was the 10th straight day that large protests have erupted against the ruling junta, which caused outrage in this impoverished Southeast Asian nation by doubling fuel prices on August 15.
   British diplomatic sources said there was evidence that monks whose monastery was raided before dawn were ‘badly beaten’, with large amounts of blood found in their dormitories after they were hauled away.
   The raid was one of at least three in Yangon’s east, which each triggered clashes as hundreds of supporters tried to prevent monks from being hauled away by authorities in an apparent bid to prevent them from leading the protests.
   In the city centre, at least 100 other people were taken into custody, thrown into military trucks after troops issued an ultimatum threatening ‘extreme action’ unless they dispersed.
   Groups of people were forced to lie on their stomachs while they were searched, and if found with cameras or cellphones – which are rare in Myanmar – they were beaten and their equipment was smashed.
   In scenes of naked defiance and anger that the heavy-handed tactics have failed to crush, ordinary people screamed abuse at soldiers and cried openly as they exchanged news of deaths and injuries.
   ‘You are eating food given to you by the people. Yet you kill people and you kill the monks!’ an elderly man screamed at the impassive soldiers in Yangon’s downtown.
   The violence triggered a new round of worldwide condemnation. The United States demanded that the ruling generals end ‘violence against peaceful protesters’ calling the crackdown ‘outrageous.’
   ‘The Burmese government should not stand in the way of its people’s desire for freedom,’ said White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
   The UN Security Council urged the regime to meet a UN envoy, and the European Union said it was ‘deeply troubled.’
   China, Myanmar’s biggest trading partner and chief ally, issued its first public call for the regime to show restraint Thursday, but did not directly condemn the crackdown.
   International media rights group Reporters Without Borders said it was ‘appalled’ at the death of the Japanese journalist.

Leaders of the two major political parties, Awami League and BNP, made conflicting statements about the global index of the corruption list prepared by the Transparency International.
   The acting president of the Awami League, Zillur Rahman, said that the index of the corruption list prepared by Transparency International proves that the situation in Bangladesh has remained unchanged and no progress has been made in curbing corruption.
   ‘Although Bangladesh’s rank improved to seven from the earlier one, the index of corruption remained unchanged, which proves that no
   improvement of the corruption situation has taken place,’ Zillur told New Age on Thursday night.
   He said, while replying to a query, that he would not term the report baseless as it had been prepared after the necessary survey and research.
   The BNP secretary-general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, declined to comment on the TI’s report.
   However the expelled
   secretary-general of the BNP, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, questioned the accuracy of the report.
   ‘I doubt whether these reports paint a realistic picture,’ he told New Age. ‘In most of the cases these are not prepared in the truly scientific manner which makes a research or study credible.’
   The Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency international, on Wednesday released its Corruption Perception Index for 2007, which covers 180 countries, in which Bangladesh was placed seventh along with five other countries.
   Bangladesh was placed at the bottom of the index for five consecutive years from 2001.

The Election Commission on Thursday held an inter-ministerial meeting to discuss coordination of the work on preparation of voters’ roll with photographs in the Dhaka city corporation area.
   The commission wants to have the voters’ roll for the DCC area prepared in two and half months after the work begins on December 1.
   The meeting, with chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda in the chair, discussed selection of voter registration centres, awareness raising campaign for eligible voters, including homeless voters, and training of manpower.
   There will be 1,612 voter registration centres in the city and the task will be carried out in phases – that is from one word to another. A detailed area wise schedule for starting the job will be prepared within a week, meeting sources said.
   The EC urged the representatives of the education ministry to take measures so that annual examinations of schools could be completed before the start of voter listing in respective areas.
   Before starting the job in the DCC area, the EC has decided to start voter listing in three places on the outskirts of Dhaka as a test case from the last week of October.
   ‘We will first go for voter listing in some outskirts of Dhaka to have practical experience and to identify the obstacles in voter registration in the DCC area. From the experience we will correct the process for DCC,’ election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain told reporters after the coordination meeting.
   The outskirts of Dhaka where voter registration will be kicked off next month are – Uttar Khan, Kamrangir Char and Dania. The EC is now preparing voters’ rolls in 30 different places outside Dhaka.
   The commission is also taking preparations for launching a full-scale field-level campaign for preparation of the voters’ roll in November.
   Two election commissioners – Muhammed Sohul Hussain and M Sakhawat Hussain, representatives from the army, ministries of LGRD and cooperative, home affairs, and education and Bangladesh Rifles, Ansar and VDP, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, commissioner of the Dhaka Division, chief executive of the DCC, attended, among others, the coordination meeting.
   The EC, meanwhile, has started receiving laptop computers from the UNDP, the leading partner in the project of preparation of the voters’ roll with photographs and national identity cards. The UNDP will provide 8,000 laptop computers by next month.
   According to the plan, the field-level work on voter registration will begin in some other places next month. The areas are – Lalmonirhat municipality and the district headquarters, Rangpur district headquarters and Gangachara upazila and all unions under it, Barisal city corporation, Jessore district headquarters and all unions under it, Rupsha and Fultali upazilas of Khulna and all unions under them, Sylhet city corporation, Tangail municipality and all unions under the district headquarters, Muktagachha municipality of Mymensingh and the district headquarters with all its unions, Bogra district headquarters and all unions under it, Chapainawabganj municipality, Paba upazila of Rajshahi and all unions under it, and Gazipur municipality.
   The field-level voter listing work in the municipalities of Khagrachhari, Bandarban and Rangamati districts, in Chittagong city corporation and Tongi municipality area will begin in November this year.

The Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, on Thursday formally applied to run in the October 6 presidential poll, in a bid for five more years of power that could yet be derailed by the Supreme Court.
   Two opposition candidates also filed nomination papers to stand against Musharraf – a key US ally who seized power in a 1999 coup – saying that he cannot be re-elected while he remains army chief.
   The prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, and several cabinet ministers swept up to the election commission in Islamabad in a convoy of black limousines to lodge the nomination on behalf of Musharraf.
   Hundreds of riot police and commandos were deployed around the building and at the Supreme Court across the road to guard against protests by the opposition and all key roads were sealed off.
   The government has defied international condemnation and detained hundreds of opposition workers in raids which started at the weekend to thwart planned demonstrations.
   ‘Today is a historic day for Pakistan,’ Aziz told state television.
   ‘This election will strengthen democracy and is in the interest of the nation. The government will take every step to ensure a free, fair and transparent election,’ he said.
   Later hundreds of lawyers chanted ‘Go Musharraf, go!’ and ‘Death to the chief election commissioner!’ as former Supreme Court judge Wajihuddin Ahmad registered for the election.
   Ahmad was one of a number of judges who quit rather than swear allegiance to Musharraf when he carried out the coup.
   ‘We have come here to perform a national duty,’ said Ahmad. ‘This assembly cannot elect Musharraf.’
   The vote is to be carried out by the national and provincial parliaments, whose term must end by early 2008 when general elections are due. The opposition wants the president to be elected by new assemblies.
   Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party also filed the nomination papers of its vice president, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, a party spokesman said.
   Officials said 10 people had applied to run but most had no nominations and will be eliminated when the papers are officially scrutinised on Sunday.
   The Supreme Court is due on Thursday or Friday to finish hearing a string of opposition legal challenges over Musharraf’s own eligibility for the election and the legality of his dual military-civilian role.
   He has said he will quit as army chief by November 15 and be sworn in as a civilian if he wins – but has also warned that he will keep his military role if anything stands in his way.
   The opposition has taken this as an indication he could impose emergency rule or even martial law if he is barred from standing by the court. Dissolving parliament for up to a year is another option, analysts say.

The White House on Thursday declared a war of words on Myanmar’s military rulers, declaring that it would keep calling that country ‘Burma’ in a show of support for pro-democracy activists there.
   Spokesman Tony Fratto said Washington’s refusal to use the junta’s term for their country was ‘intentional’ because ‘we choose not to use the language of a totalitarian dictatorial regime that oppresses its people.’
   ‘And we have freedom of speech here, maybe they don’t,’ Fratto said amid mounting global pressure for the regime to end a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.
   His comments were in line with the US State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, which pointedly note that the 1989 name change never won approval from the country’s legislators.
   ‘The democratically elected but never convened Parliament of 1990 does not recognise the name change, and the democratic opposition continues to use the name ‘Burma.’ Due to consistent support for the democratically elected leaders, the US government likewise uses ‘Burma,’ the State Department web site says.
   The CIA ‘World Fact Book’ notes that the new name is a derivative of the Burmese short-form name Myanma Naingngandaw.

The Awami League will begin formal meetings with the components of the AL-led alliance from Saturday to mobilise them and persuade them to submit similar proposals for electoral reforms in their dialogues with the Election Commission.
   The AL will sit with the Workers Party of Bangladesh at the Gulshan residence of the acting president, Zillur Rahman, at 11:00am on the first day, and the meeting with the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu) will be held on Monday.
   The meetings with the other components of the alliance will be held one after another, and the schedule for the meetings will be announced soon, said sources in the AL and the combine.
   ‘We have completed preliminary talks with the other components of the 14-party alliance, and the first formal meeting will begin on Saturday with the Workers Party of Bangladesh,’ the AL’s senior presidium member, Tofail Ahmed, told New Age on Thursday.
   Tofail, who was assigned the responsibility of communicating with the components by the AL, said that the aims
   of the alliance were the same, so every component has agreed to discuss what reform proposals should be highlighted in the dialogues with the EC.
   ‘The proposals will be prepared on the basis of the 31-point electoral reform demanded by the AL-led alliance earlier,’ he said, adding that the AL would also talk with the other progressive and pro-liberation forces like the Communist Party of Bangladesh before the beginning of dialogues with the EC.
   The Workers Party will send a seven-member delegation, led by its president Rashed Khan Menon, to participate in the meeting, said sources in the WP.
   The other members of the delegation will be WP’s general secretary Bimal Biswas, Haider Akbar Khan Rano, Nurul Hasan, Fazle Hossain Badsha, Anisur Rahman Mallik and Quamrul Ahsan.
   Another component of the alliance, the Gana Forum, did not decide till Thursday how it should respond to the AL’s call to hold inter-party talks before the dialogues with the EC.
   ‘Our party’s presidium will meet on Friday to take the final decision,’ Gana Forum’s presidium member, Pankaj Bhattacharya, told New Age on Thursday.
   The party leaders will take a decision after reviewing the necessity of holding such a meeting in the present situation, he added.
   The AL, at its presidium meeting on September 21, decided to prepare electoral reform proposals similar to those of its allies, which its leaders will place before the EC during the dialogue.
   ‘We have completed the initial communications with allied parties and will begin the formal meeting with them from Saturday,’ Zillur told New Age on Thursday, adding that most of the parties have already responded positively to AL’s proposal of holding inter-party talks before the dialogues with the EC.

Political instability, absence of pro-people government and civil war create scope of rampant corruption in countries that are ranked the most perceived corrupt nations, reveals the latest corruption index of the Transparency International.
   ‘Corruption is rampant in unstable countries and those which do not have pro-people governments,’ Muzaffer Ahmad, chairman of the Transparency International Bangladesh’s board of trustees Thursday told a private television channel.
   According to the annual report of the Transparency International this year Somalia and Myanmar have been ranked the most corrupt nations in the perception index, followed by Iraq and Haiti in the second and third positions respectively.
   Among the top two corrupt nations, Myanmar has seen military rule for decades while Somalia is ravaged by civil war since 90’s.
   The Berlin-based international corruption watchdog released its corruption perception index for 2007, which covers 180 countries, in which Bangladesh was placed seventh along with five other countries.
   Quoting the report, professor Mozaffer said, ‘constitutional crisis prevails in almost all those countries [corrupt].’

The BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, on Thursday said free and fair elections would not be possible with the leaders of the main parties in jail.
   ‘The people are wary of any election without the two main leaders,’ Delwar told reporters at his Mohakhali home, referring to detained former prime ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina.
   ‘The election is still some time away according to the Election Commission’s roadmap.’
   ‘Nothing can be forecast regarding the election right now but it does seem that the government is working to a plan.’
   ‘It is not possible to hold such a significant election without the participation of the major political parties,’ said the BNP secretary general.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission Wednesday filed a case against Khaleda Zia’s elder son Tarique Rahman, his wife Zobaida Rahman and mother-in-law Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu on charges of concealing information on assets.
   Delwar termed the ACC cases as ‘politically motivated’.
   ‘If the government chooses it can withdraw any case or exempt anyone from a case on special grounds,’ said Delwar.
   ‘I hope the government will consider this issue from a humanitarian point of view and think of the age of Tarique’s only daughter Jaima Rahman.’

Islamist outfits have planned to march towards the Prothom Alo office today demanding its closure for publishing a controversial cartoon in its weekly fun magazine.
   They also demanded closure of Saptahik 2000, a Bangla language weekly whose Eid special issue was withdrawn
   from the market for contents said to have been sacrilege to Kabaa, the holiest place in Islam.
   Twelve Islamist organisations, grouped in All Party Resistance Committee, on Tuesday gave the government an ultimatum till Thursday to cancel the declarations of Prothom Alo and Saptahik 2000 and arrest their editors and publishers.
   Otherwise, they vowed to go out on demonstrations at all the mosques of the country, including Baitul Mukarram national mosque in Dhaka, after the jumma prayers on Friday. The committee leaders at a news briefing at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity also demanded enactment of a blasphemy law.
   The briefing was attended by secretary generals of the 12 organisations, including a Khelafat Andolan faction, two factions of Jamiat-e-Ulamaye Islam, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Islamic Constitution Movement, an Islami Oikya Jote faction, a Nezam-e-Islami faction, a Muslim League faction and Jatiya Ganatatrik Party.
   Ultra-rightist group Hizbut-Tahrir announced fresh programmes after the end of its three-day ultimatum demanding cancellation of declaration of Prothom Alo and Saptahik 2000 and arrest of Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman, Saptahik 2000 editor Golam Mortoza and publisher Mahfuz Anam.
   Hizbut-Tahrir leaders, at a news briefing in their office, said they would hold a rally after the jumma prayers at Baitul Mukarram and then march towards the Prothom Alo office. Rallies will also be held at the divisional headquarters. The women’s wing of the organisation will form a human chain in front of the press club on Friday morning.

The chief of army staff, General Moeen U Ahmed, said on Thursday the army now assisting the administration at the request of the government would go back if and when government wanted.
   ‘The army is only assisting the administration. The army will go back when the government wants. But till that time the army will continue to assist the administration,’ said the general.
   He was inaugurating Tanti Palli and handloom products fair at Mao village, established by the joint forces and the district administration.
   Earlier, distributing paddy seedlings and variety of vegetable seeds among the farmers at the Police Lines General Moeen said the government had taken up a massive programme to make up the loss of farmers caused by two spells of flood.
   The seedlings grown on 10 acres in Savar garrison is also being distributed among the farmers of Madaripur, Dhaka and Narayanganj that will benefit about 670 families.
   He said the middlemen had long deprived genuine farmers and weavers. People of all walks of life should supplement the government efforts in improving the condition of farmers and weavers.
   Referring to the on-going anti-corruption drive of the government he advised the people to wait for some time to derive its benefits.
   About the scarcity of electricity General Moeen said load shedding has now come down substantially with increase of power generation. The government has taken a massive programme to further raise the generation capacity.
   He told the weavers of Manikganj that arrangements had been made to rehabilitate them in the government khas lands. Rehabilitation of more weavers is on the card. Arrangements are also on way so that the weavers can stand on own feet by their own efforts.

The foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, has called for Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands as a pre-requisite to the solution to the Palestine crisis.
   ‘The cause of the Palestinian people is always close to Bangladesh’s hearts’, he said at a NAM Ministerial Meeting of the Committee on Palestine held Wednesday in New York on the sidelines of the current UN General Assembly session.
   Bangladesh is a member of the 10-person Ministerial Committee.
   Iftekhar said the result of Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands is a sovereign independent State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital and it will bring peace to both the Palestinians and the Israelis and ‘calm to that sad and troubled part of the world.’
   He also called upon the Palestinian parties to sink their differences and come together to unite in their common aspirations. ‘All their friends expect this of them,’ he said.
   The foreign adviser also called upon the UN to play a key role in ending the conflict.

The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion on Thursday lodged a case against former state minister Shahjahan Omar, his wife Mehjabin Farhana and their son Adnan Omar for having assets beyond their known sources of income and concealment of information about it.
   Sheikh Mesbah Uddin, assistant director of the ACC, filed the case with the Gulshan police station. According to the lawsuit, the former state minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs, his wife and son illegally earned assets of Tk 2,39,66,575.
   Omar concealed information in the statement of assets including two houses — one at Baridhara in Dhaka amounting to Tk 26,34,677 and another at his home town under Rajapur upazila in Jhalakati amounting to Tk 19,83,825.
   The ACC also unearthed assets worth Tk 92,70,000 and Tk 13,59,000 owned by Omar’s wife and son respectively beyond of their known sources of legitimate income, the plaintiff alleged.
   In addition, the ACC approved charge sheets in nine cases filed against 15 persons, including six former lawmakers and their wives, in connection with owning assets disproportionate to their known sources of legitimate income.
   The commission also asked to file the charge sheets to Chief Metropolitan Magistrates’ court of Dhaka.
   The charge-sheeted accused are Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, parliamentary affairs adviser to former prime minister Khaleda Zia, former Awami League lawmaker HBM Iqbal and his wife, former BNP lawmakers Hafiz Ibrahim and his wife, M Rashiduzzaman Millat, his wife and their son, Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu and his wife, Shahjahan Chowdhury, ward commissioner of Dhaka City Corporation Chowdhury Alam, CBA leader BM Bakir and his wife and former forest conservator Anwarul Islam.

The Election Commission has embarked on reorganisation of its field offices across the country before starting preparation of voters’ roll in full swing from November.
   As part of the electoral reform programmes, the EC has decided to transfer 14 district election officers and given nine thana election officers additional charge of district election officers.
   Besides, the commission has also started a process to recruit 37 thana election officials through the Public Service Commission.
   The EC has taken the steps when its field administration is virtually in a mess with most of the officials and staff struggling to cope with extra workload. Some officials of the administrative cadres of the government are performing additional duty as district and thana election officers, while election officials have been discharging the duties of officers two or three posts higher than them as the commission has failed to assign officials for the posts.
   The work of the EC, from its secretariat to field-level administration, is being done by a number of officials on an ad hoc basis.
   There are 83 districts election offices and 505 upazila/thana election offices across the country and each office is supposed to be managed by a class I officer of the Election Commission. But at the moment there are 61 district and 217 upazila/thana officials while in the rest of the places the jobs are being done by either officials of administrative cadres as additional duty or by the upper division clerks as current charge.
   There are nine deputy election commission offices across the county, and the same numbers of deputy election commissioners and assistant election commissioners are designated to run the offices. Only one DEC is running the deputy election commission office at Rajshahi while the eight other offices are being managed by either assistant election commissioners or district election officers.
   Sources said, the EC at the moment wants to assign a district election officer to each administrative district transferring officials from the districts where more than one district officials are now posted.
   According to the roadmap for holding the national polls by December next year, the EC fixed the time for internal reorganisation between February and December 2007. Many officials, however, expressed doubts about completion of reorganisation in the stipulated time as half of the time has already elapsed.
   In the last five months, the EC has done nothing to fill the vacant posts. It has conducted examinations of the 302 upazila/thana election officials, appointed allegedly on political consideration during the BNP-led alliance government, to prove whether they are fit for the job. Of them 85 were terminated from jobs as they failed eligibility tests.
   In the internal reorganisation plan unveiled in the roadmap, the EC proposed several reforms including ensuring the independence of the EC Secretariat, setting recruitment rules for its officers and employees, designing the commission’s own building, and strengthening its information technology wing by December this year.
   The EC Wednesday approved the draft of the new service rules for election officials, which make their jobs transferable.
   The EC on June 7 sent a proposal to the government for separating its secretariat from the PMO, now the Chief Adviser’s Office, for ensuring the commission’s financial and administrative independence. The council of advisers on June 23 approved the proposal in principle and asked the law ministry to prepare and submit a draft ordinance in this regard. But the law ministry is yet to prepare the draft ordinance which would be promulgated by the president as soon as the law ministry completes it.

The authorities of the Shyamali Garments Factory, a joint venture of Bangladesh and Hong Kong entrepreneurs, at Salna in Gazipur announced lay-off at the factory for an indefinite period.
   The workers saw the notice pasted on the factory gate when they went to join work Thursday morning. A large number of policemen were deployed at the factory.
   Sources said some workers went on a strike for a day, held agitation programmes and vandalised the factory although the authorities fulfilled their demands.
   A meeting was held in the afternoon between the workers and the factory authorities, mediated by law enforcers and the local administration, but it failed to work. And the management announced the lay-off.
   A group of workers on Wednesday vandalised the factory and at least five cars in demand for increase in wages, and food and festival allowance. They also ransacked the offices and damaged two gates.
   The joint forces reached the place and tackled the situation.

The Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah Bin Haji Ahmad Badawi, has assured the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, that his government would look into problems being faced by Bangladeshi workers with a view to resolving them.
   Ahmad Badawi gave the assurance during a bilateral meeting with the chief adviser on the sidelines of 62nd UN General Assembly in UN Building Wednesday afternoon. He said Bangladeshi workers were welcome in Malaysia.
   However, the Malaysian prime minister said both the governments should work together to ensure that each worker was in possession of legal documents.
   The foreign and expatriate welfare affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, informed the two leaders that Bangladesh was awaiting a visit from the Malaysian home minister to carry out more detailed consultations to address the problems on both sides.
   Prime minister Badawi said he would ensure that these discussions took place soon.
   Briefing reporters on the meeting chief adviser’s press secretary Syed Fahim Munaim said Fakhruddin sought more investment from Malaysia saying that present conditions in Bangladesh were appropriate for foreign investment.
   Both the leaders agreed that greater economic cooperation would result in a win-win situation.
   They also agreed to cooperate in international arena including the United Nations, OIC and the Commonwealth as both the countries shared many common values.
   The cabinet secretary, Ali Imam Majumdar, and the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, Ismat Jahan, were present.

On receiving information from various sources that Bangladeshi women are being used either as sex workers or entertainers in different countries, the government on Thursday decided to ask embassies concerned to verify and report on that matter.
   The decision was taken at an inter-ministry meeting held at the home ministry with its secretary, Abdul Karim, in the chair.
   Officials of the information, social welfare, expatriates’ welfare, foreign affairs and women affairs, as well as NGO representatives, attended the meeting to review the latest women and child trafficking situation of the country.
   The meeting observed that trafficking of both women and children has been reduced in recent years due to various steps, including heightened vigilance on the borders and greater awareness in the people and lawmen.
   ‘But trafficking is still taking place and poor women, lured by the syndicates, are being taken to the Middle-Eastern countries for indecent jobs, including prostitution,’ said a senior home ministry official at the meeting.
   The Arab Emirates, Jordan and the Philippines are among the countries where Bangladeshi women are engaged in the sex trade.
   According to the meeting’s decision, the foreign ministry will write to the embassies of the concerned countries for verifying the information about Bangladeshi women and report to the government as soon as possible.
   The meeting was told that a Bangladeshi nightclub was set up in a Middle-Eastern country recently.
   The home secretary expressed frustration over the slow progress of investigation into, and trial of, the women and child trafficking cases. Many officers also expressed their anger as many of the accused were being acquitted from the trafficking cases.
   ‘Only five cases were disposed of in August, in which two persons were punished and the rest were acquitted,’ a police officer, who is involved in investigation of such cases, told New Age after the meeting.
   In August 11 women were trafficked while 10 others were rescued by lawmen on the border prior to being trafficked, he said.
   ‘It means trafficking is going on,’ he added, but claimed that it had been reduced due to strong vigilance and drives by lawmen and awareness building by the concerned NGOs.

The police on Thursday submitted a charge sheet against the Rajshahi mayor, Mizanur Rahman Minu, now serving a jail term for 13 years in an extortion case, and three others in a case of extortion of Tk 18 lakh.
   The investigation officer, Saiful Islam, of the Boalia police, filed the charge sheet with the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court.
   Three others accused in the case are former Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Lutfar Rahman and his two brothers, Fazlur Rahman and Bazlur Rahman.
   One Nurunnabi of Shalgharia at Durgapur on August 6 filed the case with the Boalia police against them on an extortion charge of Tk 47.5 lakh and shares of the Jamuna Seeds Cold Storage Private Limited worth Tk 1 crore. The police also filed a charge sheet in another case lodged with the Boalia police against Lutfar Rahman, now detained in jail, by Nurunnabi on August 6.
   Minu, also a BNP leader, was on Wednesday sued on yet another extortion charge. Four other BNP leaders were also accused in the case of extortion of Tk 1 lakh.

Former finance adviser Akbar Ali Khan Thursday painted a gloomy picture of the country’s economic prospect resulting from adverse impact of rising inflation.
   ‘I can see an ominous sign… the economy is passing through a vulnerable situation,’ he told an exchange of opinion meeting at Jatiya Press Club.
   Somunnay, an independent economic research institution, organised the meeting marking the publication of its first issue of ‘Bangladesh Economic Outlook’. Somunnay will publish the quarterly for at least three years.
   BRAC executive director and former BIDS director general Mahabub Hossain also spoke at the function chaired by Somunnay chairman Atiur Rahman.
   Somunnay’s visiting fellow Selim Raihan presented a survey report.
   Akbar Ali Khan explained three adverse impacts of inflation, including the inflation that emerged as a humanitarian problem rather than economic problem.
   ‘It is also a matter of great concern that the economic growth could slow down which is already evident.’
   The former finance adviser said the decline in opening the sector-wise import L/Cs that there would be a pressure on the economic growth next year.
   He added that the private sector should be given the responsibility to operate in the market as the driving force of the economy.
   Khan suggested huge import of cereals to face the situation and mentioned that the then government had imported 62 lakh tons of cereals to face the food shortage after 1998 flooding. But this year, it would require more as the population by now has increased.
   He also stressed the need for food support for the marginal people as well as an interim arrangement for fixed income group of people.
   ‘We did not find any main or single reason behind the inflation. There are multidimensional reasons,’ Atiur said.
   Somunnay conducted the survey on 200 poor families in the capital and found that food inflation for them increased 21.3 per cent in August 2007 (point-to-point basis), which is much higher than the official estimate of 12.5 per cent.
   Somunnay study estimated average inflation at 14.1 per cent during last one year as against 8.5 per cent as estimated by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
   The study identified the factors contributed most are slow growth in agriculture, rise in international prices of food items, sharp depreciation of Tk against US dollar, appreciation of Indian Rupee, and rise in fuel oil prices.
   Growth of money supply, syndication, anti-corruption drive and disruption in supply chain were also examined in the study.

Eleven Bangladeshi workers, who returned from Malaysia two days ago, have received cheques for Tk 84 thousand each Thursday from the recruiting agency blamed for their ordeal.
   The returnees claimed that they had paid Tk 2.3 lakh each to Golden Arrow, the recruiting agency which sent several thousand workers to Malaysia by arrangements with Malaysian outsourcing company PTC Asia-Pacific, promising jobs there.
   Earlier, a probe team headed by the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment secretary, Abdul Matin Chowdhury, went to Kuala Lumpur and assured the workers that the agency would bear the expenses of their return home and refund the entire amount they had paid to the agent.
   However, the secretary told newsmen Thursday that the agency was asked to pay Tk 84 thousand to each of the returnees as it was found that the each worker had given the same amount.
   The returnees were among the 80 Bangladeshis who went on a hunger strike in front of the Bangladesh high commission in Kuala Lumpur recently demanding Dhaka’s intervention to solve their problem.
   The eleven workers – Al-Amin Nayan, Shahidul Islam, Joynal Abedin, Ershad Ali, Mobashwer Hossain, Chan Mia, Rajdoot, Shahabuddin, Abul Kalam Azad, Lokman Hossain and Mannan returned to Dhaka on Tuesday night.
   After their arrival, the workers decided to stay at the airport until they receive the money as the expatriates’ welfare secretary during his visit to Malaysia assured them that they would be paid Tk. 2.3 lakh each on their return.
   The expatriates’ welfare authorities asked the returnees to come to their Kakrail office for receiving the money.
   In presence of the expatriates’ welfare secretary, each worker received a cheque for Tk 84 thousand from Mostafizar Rahman, owner of Golden Arrow.
   The secretary said, ‘In our initial inquiry we found that the recruiting agency had taken Tk 84,000 from each Bangladeshi worker, so we instructed the agent to pay the same amount to each of them.’
   ‘If we will find any evidence that the recruiting agency had taken more money from the returnees, we will ask it to return the extra amount,’ he added.
   The workers however, contradicted the claim saying they had paid Tk 2, 30,000 each to Golden Arrow.
   Chan Mia of Tangail, told New Age, ‘I gave Tk 2, 30,000 to the agency after selling a piece of land, the only asset I inherited from my father. How can I go back home with this poor amount.’
   Lokman Hossain of Gazipur told New Age, ‘I gave Tk 2,30,000 to the agency after taking a loan from a local samity on a 15 per cent interest, and the samity has already put pressure on my family to return the money. I do not know what to do.’
   Golden Arrow sent the job-seekers to Malaysia by arrangement with PTC Asia-Pacific but failed to provide them with the promised jobs.
   The recruiting agency forced the workers to live in small warehouses and supplied only one meal a day without providing them with employment.

The Awami League will celebrate the 60th birthday of the party president, Sheikh Hasina, today.
   The party has decided that it will be a low-key affair and no special programmes have been chalked out for the day as Hasina is detained in jail.
   The AL central committee will organise a prayer session at the party chief’s Dhanmondi office at 3:30 pm.
   Some senior leaders of the AL wanted to meet Hasina in jail on the occasion but the prison authorities refused them permission, sources said.
   ‘We approached the jail authorities seeking permission to greet our party president at the jail gate on occasion of her birthday but did not get permission,’ acting party president Zillur Rahman told New Age.
   He urged all units of the party to hold milad on the occasion.
   Zillur renewed his call for immediate release of Hasina.
   The front organisations of AL and different socio-cultural and professional bodies will also organise prayer sessions on the occasion.
   The Bangladesh Muktijodhdha Ainjibi Parishad, Jatiya Ganatantrik League and Muktijoddha Paribar Kalyan Sangsad will jointly organise a discussion meeting and a prayer session in a city restaurant today, said a press release.
   Hasina, the eldest daughter of the founding president of the country, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was born at her parental place at Tungipara in Gopalganj district this day in 1947.

Applications for the 2009 Diversity Visa Lottery will be accepted between 10:00pm on October 3 and 11:00pm on December 2.
   Applicants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. Paper entries will not be accepted, said a US embassy release.
   Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter. Heavy demand may result in web site delays.
   No entries will be accepted after 11:00pm on December 2.
   The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Programme is administered on an annual basis by the US department of state and conducted under the terms of Section 203© of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
   Section 203© of the INA provides a maximum of up to 55,000 Diversity Visas each fiscal year to be made available to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
   The annual DV programme makes diversity immigrant visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. A computer-generated random lottery drawing chooses selectees for diversity visas.
   The visas, however, are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the period of the past five years.
   Within each region, no one country may receive more
   than seven per cent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.
   The Diversity Visa application instructions in Bangla are available on the embassy’s web site at dhaka.usembassy.gov.

A pioneering project that takes education by boat to thousands in a remote part of Bangladesh has won a major UN environmental award, a statement said on Thursday.
   The $200,000 United Nations Environment Programme Sasakawa prize was jointly won by Bangladesh sustainable development organisation Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha and the founder of Food and Trees for Africa, the UN statement said.
   The Bangladesh project, which has already won a string of other international awards, runs school and library boats in the north-western Chalanbeel region where extreme poverty and annual flooding often conspire to
   rob children of their education.
   In addition to taking education to children in their villages, the project also supplies villagers with solar-powered lights and trains adults in sustainable agriculture.
   The lights mean families can avoid spending money on kerosene. Children can study after dark and their parents can continue income-generating activities such as fishing and sewing.
   The executive director, AHM Rezwan, said the prize money would help his organisation to expand its work by educating thousands more.
   The annual award recognises individuals or institu- tions that have made a substantial contribution to protecting and managing the environment.

Bangladesh Bank has instructed the chairmen and boards of non-bank financial institutions not to interfere in the works of managing directors.
   The central bank in a circular Wednesday redefined the authorities of the board and the management to ensure accountability and transparency in the financial institutions other than banks.
   Lax guidelines often lead to complications in the operation of the country’s 29 non-bank financial institutions, mainly leasing companies, and the circular is aimed at streamlining their activities.
   According to the circular, board will appoint managing director, deputy managing director and general manager, while lower level appointments will be looked after by managing director.
   Chairman of the board will preside over the board meeting and must not take any extra facility from the company.
   It is alleged that in some companies, chairmen take the major decisions and enjoy extra benefits from the companies.
   In case of any violation of the guidelines, the central bank will take stern action against the company concerned.