Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The 13th session of the 9th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) will begin at 5:00 pm on Sunday. This will be the budget session for fiscal year (FY) 2012-13.
President Zillur Rahman has summoned the session as per Article 72 of the constitution.
In this session, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith will place the national budget for 2012-13 on June 7. The parliament will pass the budget by June 30.
The 12th session of parliament began on January 25 and ended on March 29. The President had addressed the House as it was the first session of the current year.
Out of 34 workdays, 211 MPs took part on the president's speech on 33 days. They held discussions for 50 hours and 26 minutes.
A total of 15 bills were passed out of 28 placed in the 12th session.
The opposition MPs had joined the last session of parliament, ending their long boycott. They attended the House on three workdays but did not join the concluding sitting.
Parliament secretariat officials said all preparations have been completed for the budget session.
A meeting of the JS business advisory committee will be held at 4:00 pm on Sunday with Speaker Abdul Hamid Advocate in the chair.
The meeting will determine the duration of the budget session, which is likely to be longer.
Besides the budget, the 13th session will pass a number of important bills. Some 13 old and four new bills are likely to be placed in the House.
BNP may place a shadow budget before the finance minister places the budget in parliament, Mahbubur Rahman, member of BNP standing committee, told The Daily Star over the phone on Saturday.
Wishing anonymity, a BNP lawmaker told the newspaper that the party was not thinking about returning to the House before the opposition's June 10 deadline for the government to accept its demand for restoration of the caretaker government system
It is certain that the main opposition will not return to parliament today (Sunday), Mahbubur said. “How can BNP join parliament when five opposition lawmakers are behind bars?” he asked.
BBN/BB/AD-27May12-10:45 am (BST)
