The High Court has imposed a six-month ban on Nirapon, an alliance of 23 foreign RMG brands to oversee building inspection, remediation, and monitoring of listed apparel factories in the country.
The High Court bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman passed the order on Tuesday (Oct 23).
A supplementary petition seeking this order was filed by Mostafa Qamrus Sobhan Rubel, the chairman of Dragon Sweater and Spinning Ltd.
The petitioner's lawyer Barrister Imtiaz Moinul Islam said, the RMG Sustainability Council was formed to monitor the work environment in export-oriented garment factories.
The High Court also issued a rule asking Nirapon to explain within two weeks why it should not be ordered to join the RMG Sustainability Council, a tripartite compliance and safety monitoring body of the apparel sector that will formally come into being on Nov 25.
Nirapon was established as a common platform, by global RMG brands, for which Bangladesh is an important sourcing destination, to sustain and build on the safety achievements of the past six years.
More than 600 factories are functioning under Nirapon, which requires that the National Action Plan be met on a continued basis, as well as synchronized standards for physical, structural, fire, and electrical safety.
After the collapse of Rana Plaza, which killed 1,135 people in 2013, Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a platform of North American apparel brands and retailers, started to work with Bangladeshi apparel industry to improve safety standards within a five year time frame.