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Standing Committee on Ministry of Defence

parliamentary_committee · partial (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head
—
Role
Chairman
Annual budget
—
Staff
—
Established
1991
Legal basis
Constitution of Bangladesh, Article 76(1) (Parliament shall appoint standing committees; Article 76(2)(b) mandates committees to examine the activities and administration of each ministry); Jatiya Sangsad Rules of Procedure (requiring one ministry-shadowing committee per ministry; amended in the 7th Sangsad 5th session to prohibit sitting ministers from chairing ministerial standing committees)

The 13th Jatiya Sangsad defence committee is not yet formally constituted as of May 17, 2026 (the first session prorogued April 30 after forming only five ministry-shadowing committees). The committee's mandate covers the Tk 40,698 crore FY2025-26 defence budget, the BPPA-led procurement reform agenda, and civilian oversight of the DGDP, which still operates under the Defence Purchase Regulation-35 (1961) rather than the Public Procurement Act 2006. Historical oversight record is weak: during 2009-2013, the committee held 26 meetings without a single session dedicated to the defence budget.

Recent activity

Provenance & notes

verification_status is 'partial' for two reasons: (1) the parliament.gov.bd committee page (URL confirmed in multiple searches) was unreachable via live fetch during verification -- committee member list and current chairman cannot be confirmed until the page is accessible; (2) the committee itself has not been constituted in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad as of May 17, 2026, so current_head is null. The established_year of 1991 reflects the restoration of parliamentary democracy and the beginning of ministry-shadowing committee practice under the Rules of Procedure; the Transparency International Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index records a formal establishment date of April 1, 2014 for the committee in the 10th parliament, with 10 members. Under prior parliaments the committee met rarely and never formally reviewed the defence budget: Transparency International's 2015 Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index assigned Bangladesh scores of 1/6 on acquisition planning, defence budget transparency, and public budget access. The DGDP still operates under Defence Purchase Regulation-35 (1961) in practice, rather than the Public Procurement Act 2006, creating a structural oversight gap. The BPPA circular dated circa May 12, 2026, applies to all procuring entities and therefore includes MoD, but its practical reach into DGDP procurement is limited by the DP-35 parallel framework. Annual budget figures reflect MoD total; the committee itself has no independent budget allocation. head_role set to 'Chairman' per standard Jatiya Sangsad parliamentary committee convention; the chair must be a non-minister BNP MP (Rules of Procedure mandate). Refresh this record once the committee is formally constituted and the parliament.gov.bd page returns live member data.

Sources