The House on the last day of its four-day session yesterday passed the Code of Civil Procedure (Third Amendment), Bill, 2003, 'paving the way for quick disposal of civil suits and halting the trend of making false claims and lodging false cases on land disputes.'

"You (speaker) call the opposition (AL) members, hear from them what they want and tell us what we are to do. We want the return of the opposition to the House," Local Government and Rural Develop-ment (LGRD) and Cooperatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan said in his winding up speech in the House.

Bhuiyan was however critical of the main opposition party's role and alleged it (AL) is planning to destabilise the country.

Prior to reading out the prorogation order by the president, Speaker Jamir Uddin Sircar urged lawmakers of all parties to join parliament proceedings to strengthen democracy.

In the absence of the main opposition, parliamentary party leader of the Jatiya Party (Ershad) Rawshan Ershad delivered a speech on behalf of the opposition. She urged the leader of the House and leader of the opposition to sit for a dialogue to resolve all disputes between the two sides for the sake of democracy and development.

Responding to a request from the LGRD minister to expunge unparliamentary words, if any, used in the four-day session, the speaker informed the House it had already been done.

Mannan Bhuiyan made the request with reference to a demand by the AL general secretary.

On AL's recent list of godfathers, Bhuiyan said, "The move is aimed to shift their (AL) previous misdeeds on to us and tarnish the country's image abroad."

Admitting price spiral of some essentials, he said the government has taken all steps to check the price hike.

Turing to law and order, the minister said, "We are not claiming total success in curbing crimes but we are trying sincerely."

Brushing aside opposition allegation that people are dying of starvation in the monga-hit northern region, Bhuiyan said, "Not a single person has starved to death in any northern district." The situation there is an usual one at this time of the year, he added.

About opposition leader Sheikh Hasina's visit to northern districts, Bhuiyan said the opposition is trying to derive political mileage out of the situation there since it has no other anti-government issue.

Before passing the Code of Civil Procedure (Third Amendment) Bill, 2003, the House rejected several amendment proposals by Kader Siddiqui of Krishak Sramik Janata League and GM Quader of the JP.

Quader criticised the bill saying it will deprive the poor of justice. He attributed the delay in disposal of civil suits to inefficiency of law officials of the government.

But Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moudud Ahmed, who piloted the bill, said it will bring a qualitative change to the judicial system.

Moudud said considering the economic condition of the poor justice-seekers and opinion of lawmakers of all parties, lawyers and civil society members, the compensatory cost for filing false cases has been fixed at Tk 20,000 against Tk 50,000 in the third amendment bill.

The bill also provides for discouraging unilateral imposition of court injunctions, specially hampering development works or on matters of public interest. In such cases, it has been made mandatory to hear the government side before issuance of such injunctions, he added.

Earlier, the Code of Civil Procedure (Second Amendment) Bill, 2003, was adopted by the Jatiya Sangsad and it was due to be effective from October 1. But the implementation was suspended through a presidential ordinance.