http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/204 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:26:04 GMT 2026-04-07T00:26:04Z http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/4685 Constitutional Right to Privacy and Data Protection in Bangladesh: A Living Originalist Interpretation Md. Riaduzzaman This thesis aims to assess the place of data protection within the constitutional framework of the right to privacy in Bangladesh. In contemporary society, privacy has transformed in response to technological advancements. The rapid growth of information and communication technologies presents enormous challenges. This prompts the question of whether the constitutional framework surrounding privacy should adapt to safeguard individuals' rights effectively. This endeavour encounters challenges due to the absence of explicit references to data protection in the Constitution of Bangladesh and the relatively underdeveloped theoretical framework of the right to privacy, especially in response to the rapid advancement of technology. Personal data is being generated, stored, analysed, and shared in more significant numbers than ever before, facilitated by the invention of the World Wide Web, increased processing power, and new communication tools. As technology advances, along with the importance of information communication in society, unique challenges are soaring primarily related to protecting individuals' personal information. The chosen thesis methodology involves applying the constitutional interpretation method known as living originalism, utilising a comparative constitutional law approach. This approach addresses the conceptual ambiguity surrounding the definition of the right to privacy and explores how data protection can be integrated into this constitutional context. In today's digital era, data protection is critical to safeguard human dignity and autonomy, which are fundamental prerequisites for preserving privacy. Although privacy and data protection are interconnected, they are not identical. Drawing insights from international best practices in privacy and data protection, the argument is that a fresh interpretation of the constitutional right to privacy is essential to safeguard individuals' rights effectively. Rigid textual interpretation suggests the non existence of the constitutional right to data protection. This reinterpretation should consider the evolving data protection landscape and its significance in contemporary society. In conclusion, the research proposes an approach that emphasises the fundamental aspect of data protection within the constitutional framework of the right to privacy. Given that the Constitution of Bangladesh makes it impossible to change the fundamental rights due vii to the existence of basic structure, the thesis suggests that a comparative living originalism interpretation could aid in recognising the right to data protection as an inherent component of the constitutional right to privacy. This thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Mon, 07 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/4685 2025-07-07T00:00:00Z http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/4068 Regulating Anti-Competitive Market Behaviour in Bangladesh: From Commercial Tolerance to Consumer Detriment Bilkis, Afroza Competition law provides specific legislation and regulations to ensure a level playing field for all enterprises in markets, thereby protecting and promoting consumer rights. The study under this thesis was aimed at assessing the importance of regulating anti-competitive behaviour in protecting both consumers and businesses. Despite consumer welfare is a mission statement for competition watchdogs, it has been an under-evaluated concept even in courts and relevant competition commission cases. Furthermore, apart from legal, economic and policy matters, several other factors like conventional consumption theory and total welfare theory may affect the efficacy of regulation. As such, courts and regulators have often avoided the questions relating to the choice of applicable principles though it should have been otherwise. For these reasons alone, substantial mainstream debate over the application of different principles and approaches in competition adjudication has been limited. In respect of the choice of regulatory mechanisms, prominent competition regimes e.g., the EU, UK and India have adopted different policies. However, in determining competition liability following different policies may result in regulatory difficulties. The problem is at least two-fold. First, for the applicable rules in competition proceedings, specific guidelines would be necessary to deal with specific types of anti-competitive conduct. Second, the leniency provisions and an inclusive framework that conglomerates the legal, economic and social considerations in such proceedings must be designed. As compared to other jurisdictions, Bangladesh has not yet prioritized these issues, neither developed the substantive and procedural standards within the legal framework. So far the development of an inclusive competition law framework for Bangladesh is concerned, the study finds that the independence and efficiency of the regulators is the basis. The Competition Act was passed in 2012 but the Commission started functioning in 2018. Thus it has been only 6 years since the competition watchdog started dealing with cases. For this reason, the necessary amount of knowledge or experience of market regulation is lacking now. Therefore, the only way out of regulatory failure is to enhance 7 knowledge of competition law and policy and strengthen the regulatory framework. The best practices in other jurisdictions show that competition commissions can alone be the whistleblower of anti-competitive practices going on and also be the beacon of the legal battle against such practices. In this backdrop, the study essentially revolves around some basic questions relating to efficient regulation of market behaviour in Bangladesh. These questions include matters concerning nationwide highly concentrated markets, dominant enterprises, consumer behaviour, compliance issues, development of regulatory mechanisms and necessary reforms in the law. The study attempts to discuss and answer these through a systematic method of linking the objectives of the study with the assumptions. One significant assumption underlying the study is that effective and strong regulation by an independent regulatory body can protect both consumers and businesses. This also complements the objectives and significance of the study. Another major assumption comprises of the importance of addressing the economic and social issues in competition proceedings. With the content analysis, case laws and case studies, this study adopts both doctrinal and non-doctrinal research approaches. A semi-structured empirical method is applied besides the principal qualitative approach for markets are at the core of competition jurisprudence. Survey and interviews are conducted at the retail level markets in order to reach the findings. The significance of the study lies in the gap in the legal and regulatory framework of competition law in Bangladesh. In general, the absence of standard guidelines to follow in competition proceedings can result in misjudgments. Furthermore, the unique characteristics of the types of anti-competitive conduct and agreements require segregated approach of regulation. Therefore, different principles need to be developed and applied. The government’s role in preventing monopoly, cartels and collusions is undisputedly substantial in Bangladesh where government policy can often restrict competition. Moreover, the study’s importance is also appreciable as the Competition Commission as the principal regulatory authority is yet to achieve eloquent legal and regulatory independence. This thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Thu, 10 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/4068 2025-04-10T00:00:00Z http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/2657 An Insight into the Legislative Reforms for the Development of Bangladesh Stock Market CHOWDHURY, HAFIZ AHMED Stock markets have a vital role to play in the economic development of a country. An efficient stock market helps to allocate financial resources to businesses efficiently. Businesses in turn use the capital to grow, generate employment and contribute to the national development. As a result, productivity improves and the overall economy benefits. Ensuring economic growth and development is a primary objective of all countries. Economists traditionally have looked at capital, labour and technology as the major factors driving economic growth. The long-term financing should be ensured through the country's stock market considering the interest of the economy. In Bangladesh, stock market, however, could not keep pace with the country's robust economic growth mainly because of the reluctance of the larger companies to be listed and give the people opportunity to invest in worthy firms. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Bangladesh has averaged 7.0 per cent in the last decade, but the growth of market capitalization is not in line with it. The healthy economic growth of Bangladesh has been lauded in international forums, but the stock market does not reflect the same. Over the last five decades, the journey of the Bangladesh stock market has not been smooth. The market remains at a nascent stage, with little or no diversified scope, dominated by retail investors lacking financial literacy. Stock markets around the globe are vital in determining transparency and efficiency for an economy. In the last two decades, the stock market of Bangladesh has undergone a drastic change. This calls for more stringent and vigilant regulation in Bangladesh. From the review of past studies on Bangladesh Stock Market, there appears to be a little or no outstanding research work on legal aspects of Bangladesh Stock Market. So, the title of the present study is "An Insight into the Legislative Reforms for the Development of Bangladesh Stock Market". This thesis is an attempt to study how the Bangladesh stock market has been developing during the last three decades. The development of stock market has been studied from the view point of the pertinent institutions which have been contributing to the development of the stock market. The stock market in Bangladesh is governed by certain Acts, Rules and Regulations. Major regulatory authorities of Bangladesh capital market consist of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission [formerly Controller of Capital Issues (CCI)], Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC), Dhaka Stock Exchange Limited (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange Limited (CSE). It is observed that Bangladesh securities market has failed to achieve any significant growth since its inception in 1954. This stagnation is attributable to a number of factors that include, inter alia, the existence of weak legal and regulatory frameworks, the absence of active market professionals, the predominance of individual investors, and a serious dearth of foreign and institutional investors. Legal and regulatory weaknesses are considered to have crit ically hindered the market’s potential growth. Some important laws are outdated, and the regulator has introduced some unrealistic reforms over the years. Most of the reforms accomplished concentrating on incentives to investors and issuers alike, but nothing significant has been done for investors’ protection. This study scrutinizes the Acts, Rules and Regulations and attempts to identify the loopholes therein and the roles of regulators behind the recent stock market crash and recommends for some inevitable legislative reforms for the development of Bangladesh stock market. To pursue the research goal, necessary information and data have been collected both from primary and secondary sources. Besides, diverse methodologies have been used to materialize the objectives of the study. Different analytical and empirical approaches have been explored for examining the existing legal frameworks, identifying the gaps and problems and providing suggestive measures thereto. In analytical study both qualitative and quantitative explorations are attempted. For suggesting the legislative reforms for the development of the Bangladesh stock market , it mainly focuses on qualitative analysis through relevant information, data, expert interview, and structured questionnaire. Besides, quantitative techniques are used to analyze Bangladesh stock market data from 1993 to 2020.For providing additional insight into the study; questionnaire survey and empirical analysis have also been conducted. To collect primary information, a well-structured questionnaire is used for data collection. The survey schedule contains both close-ended and open-ended questionnaires. The set of questionnaires was administrated to individuals pertinent to the Bangladesh stock market. For the survey, only 20 capital market pertinent experts have been restricted due to the COVID 19 pandemic. After collecting the questionnaires, the information on different aspects was systematically tabulated for analysis. Information was analyzed through tables and frequency distributions. The collected data were entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Because of the fact that the samples were not random, statistical test could not be performed to test hypotheses. Therefore, findings have been presented on the basis of the analysis of data supported by tables and graphs. The regulatory move to control the situation was very slow. The regulatory authority took time to realize the possible impact of index crash on the entire economy. In late December 1996, the BSEC constituted an Inquiry Committee to investigate into the irregularities of stock market activities during July 1996 to November 1996. In March 1997, the Inquiry Committee prepared a lengthy report identifying a number of companies being in breach of specific provisions of securities market regulation and commented that such companies were guilty of fraudulent acts in relation to securities trading. The Inquiry Committee also identified some of the country's biggest brokers who were apparently involved in market manipulation. However, it is unfortunate that the Inquiry Committee Report failed to address the regulatory aspects in a comprehensive way. The Bangladesh stock market again saw an upsetting scenario in 2010 that was very similar to that one in 1996. There were allegations about capacity issues in the BSEC, internal control lapses and even moral turpitude of their staff. The government has taken cognizance, under unwavering public pressure, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission formed a four-member Inquiry probe committee under Section 21 of the Securities and Exchange Commission Ordinance, 1969 on January 26, 2011, to investigate share market scam. The appointments came as the government moved to establish order in the country's two bourses. The probe body was entrusted with 11 tasks that include finding out if any individual or group which had influenced the market or taken any undue advantages. The probe body's report has identified a few individual suspects by name. The committee found various irregularities, including the existence of omnibus accounts, which allowed some market players to make exorbitant profits at the expense of the retail investors. The report ended with recommendations to reform the BSEC drastically and asked the government to publish the names of the influential players and to remain cognizant in countering their influences. However, the then Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith stated that the State would neither disclose the names of the accused officially nor take punitive measures without further investigation. Although no dates for fresh probes have been declared. Later, the report was published under the direction of Hon’ble High Court Division after omitting t he name of the culprits. The paramount causes identified by the Inquiry Committee are massive irregularities and immorality, involvement of stakeholders in unethical activities of direct listing in primary issue, revaluation of the share, placement to special person/organizations at face value or lower value etc., influencing the secondary market in circular trading, block trading, unusual transaction, etc. by a concerted group of persons/ organizations, irregularities or inconsistencies in issuance of stock share against right share, preference share, IPO-repeat-IPO, unrealized profit and in giving validation unethical works and negligence etc. The noteworthy recommendations of the inquiry committee were: to remove the involved officials, reformation of SEC, Stock Exchange Demutualization by preparing and implanting 'Demutualization Plan'; Co-ordination between Stock Exchange and BSEC; Financing by the bank in capital market; Bringing transparency in non-transparent in omnibus accounts; Prohibiting share transaction of government and concerned officers; Fixation of share value by fixed price procedure and book building procedure, Controlling serial trading and manipulation; Introducing uniformities of face value of share; Bringing fairness in issuance of right share/preference share; Strict monitoring and effective measures by Government etc. The debacle of 1996 and 2010-11 was a massive regulatory failure. BSEC lacks quality, professional manpower, competent accountants, financial analysts and legal experts. Instead of developing as a highly professional organization, it has grown into more of a bureaucratic body. There is also a persistent lack of coordination between the Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission and other related organizations. This isolation of BSEC was, perhaps, a crucial factor for the regulatory failure in 2011. It is unfortunate that since the establishment of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1993, the stock market has crashed twice. On both occasions, thousands of small and inexperienced investors lost everything they had. The stock market crash is not something unique and it happened in many other countries. But market collapses in other countries were normally linked to some internal or external economic shock or global recession. In the case of Bangladesh, it has not been so. Both the crashes were neither due to external economic factors nor internal economic malfunctions. These crashes were the results of poor governance, unbridled manipulations, undue influences, and unlimited greed. From the sequence of analysis of findings of the survey on the existing enactments and legislative reforms of Bangladesh stock market, presumption cannot be denied that growth of the stock market depends upon economic, political, stock market Acts, Rules and Regulations, the legal framework in a country and the legal stability that the Government can provide to the stock markets. Thus stock market development and ensuring stock market legal stability are correlated. Stock markets function in a regulatory regime and it is important that the regulators are professional, efficient and transparent. BSEC as the apex regulator for the stock market is yet to develop as an efficient watchdog competent to discharge its most important responsibilities of protecting the interest of the investors. BSEC lacks qualified professional manpower, competent accountants, financial analysts and legal experts. Instead of developing as a highly professional organization, it has grown into more of a bureaucratic body. There is also a persistent lack of co-ordination among the Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission, Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority, National Board of Revenue and other related organizations. Swift IPO approval process and proper stock valuation of BSEC for IPO offerings hinder the supply of securities in the Bangladesh stock market. The major perpetrators behind stock market scams of 1996 and 2010 have not been specified by BSEC after stock market scams. The Book Building System and Price discovery System failed to protect the stock market scams in 2010. Stock Exchanges of Bangladesh i.e. DSE and CSE also failed to discharge their duties and take prompt initiatives for the protection of the investors. Information asymmetry and agency problems create hurdles in the development of Bangladesh equity-based stock market. Weak governance in listed companies and market intermediaries are also prevailing. Most of the IPOs were oversubscribed. Stock exchanges of Bangladesh are facing the problem of insufficient adaptation of technology advancements. From stock market scam inquiry reports, in many instances it is reflected that annual reports of the listed companies do not depict a proper representation of business reality. At present stock exchange members of Bangladesh can also act as the director of the corporation. Besides, Lack of market-based financing for easy availability of bank-based financing due to huge number of banks and their aggressive lending initiatives discourages converting private limited companies to a public limited company. Absence of professional asset/fund managers, institutional investors, and asset management companies is prevailing in Bangladesh. Syndication of institutional investors and brokerage houses is also hindering the development of the stock market in Bangladesh. Further, Dominant presence of poorly knowledgeable retail investors, lack of capacity in terms of awareness, knowledge and legal system, myopic investment mindset of the investors and irrational investment behavior of the general investors are prevailing in Bangladesh stock market. According to suggestion of Inquiry Report headed by Khandaker Ibrahim Khaled, the Supreme Court has given a direction to the Government to conduct further inquiry on the said scams to identify the real perpetrators behind those market manipulations to bring them under prosecution. The problems exist in the bottle-neck of the systems, loopholes in the laws and policy of the country and delay in, or even not being disposal of, the securities related cases. The crooks have been let to go off the hook again and again, and have naturally been encouraged to play the same game. There are some common inherent shortcomings of all these laws are lack of proper execution of the capital market regulations, deficient penalty, ineffective fine recovery system, no direct access to justice, absence of permanent prosecution unit, tribunal lacking cognizance power on complaint, want of original jurisdiction of tribunal, the comfortable savior of good faith clause, lacking special prosecution team, disregarding equality before law and equal protection of law, abuse of the defence ‘due diligence and without knowledge’ etc. Besides, there are vital specific loopholes in the legislations mentioned above. BSEC, not being participatory authority representing major regulatory bodies, faulty appointment procedure and tenure thereof, absence of concrete guidelines, weakness in kerb market regulating laws, incomprehensive provision for unclaimed dividend, and prohibition on buy-back of shares are some of paramount specific limitations of stock market legislations. Unexpected delay in the disposal of stock market related cases hinders the end of justice denying fundamental rights of speedy trial as ensured in the Constitution of Bangladesh. The delegated legislations made by the Commission are frequently changed that makes many contradictions and creates confusions. The role of Registrar of Joint Stock under the Companies Act, 1994 and the Financial Reporting Council under the Financial Reporting Act, 2015 are not proactive and vigilant enough to attract the worthy company to invest in stock market. By considering the observation and analysis of identified pertinent shortcomings in the thesis, necessary regulatory and legislative reforms of Bangladesh stock market have been tried to be recommended for a strong and steady stock market in Bangladesh. To overcome those difficulties and challenges, some effective recommendations have been produced on the basis of the evidence and illustrations available in the thesis for regulatory and legislative reforms of Bangladesh stock market. After all, the analysis of the Acts, Rules and Regulations, identification of the loopholes therein and scrutinizing the roles of regulators behind the recent stock market crash and recommendation for the legislative reforms for the development of Bangladesh stock market are sure to assist the policy makers and legislators to update the relevant laws, investigation of share scam cases and the matters ancillary thereto in need of the socioeconomic perspective of the 21st century. THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LAW, FACULTY OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF DHAKA. Wed, 11 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/2657 2023-10-11T00:00:00Z http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/2556 Enforcement of Social and Economic Rights: South Asian Judicial Discourses Chakravarty, Snehadri This thesis aimed to bring new dimensions to the contextual interpretation of the Constitution, particularly in the field of judicial enforcement of social and economic rights. So far, the attempt of judiciaries to interpret social and economic rights adjudication has been limited to the discussions of the “right to life” discourse or a retrogressive approach. By offering a broader and liberal perspective, this thesis work has tried to encroach on that barrier. This study has worked within the jurisprudential contention of the global south and global north in approaching and adjudicating social and economic rights performed by the judiciaries. It has identified some significant features of South Asian judicial discourses by analyzing predominant scholarly thoughts and arguments. The study has analyzed the contexts and conditions of the constitutional journey of South Asian countries especially, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh which has unleashed the changing phenomena of judicial approaches from positivistic to interpretivist while dealing with social and economic rights. The thesis has found that the approach of treating principles, whether directive or fundamental, so far has been applied by the judiciaries, and legal scholars of South Asian countries is mainly dominated by positivistic jurisprudence. The principles have been treated through the lenses of rules and so the judiciaries often feel difficulties to find the enforceability of social and economic rights. To address this situation, the study has attempted for contextual interpretation of principles. The study has experimented with internal and external aids to constitutional interpretation in finding more justification and rationality for enforcing social and economic rights taking into consideration of constitutional framework of Bangladesh. It has examined the preamble as an internal aid and various pre-constitutional documents of the Bangladesh Constitution, like- the 21 Points Programme of 1954 Provincial Election (which was the Election Manifesto of the United Front, and demand was for Complete Provincial Autonomy), 11 Points Demands of All-Party Students’ Action Committee in 1969, Historic Speech of 7th March by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1971, the Proclamation of Independence of 1971, and pre-constitutional documents in the post-Liberation period including the speeches and proceedings in the Constituent Assembly as external aids to interpretation. After examining all of these, the study has argued that these internal and external aids can be used as effective tools for constitutional interpretation for more efficient enforcement of social and economic rights. It has further claimed that the subsequent economic and social development of Bangladesh over the last 50 years has also to be considered as another external aid to constitutional interpretation for enforcing social and economic rights. Along with it, the thesis has also underscored some concerning factors of using internal-external aids, which prescribes for conscious and purposive use of aids otherwise judicial transgression in the guise of activism may occur. Being alert about judicial transgression, the figuring out a justified, comprehensive, and effective enforcement discourse for social and economic rights is the prime object of this thesis. This thesis submitted to the Department of Law, Faculty of Law, University of Dhaka in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Tue, 29 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/2556 2023-08-29T00:00:00Z