The Supreme Court has upheld the High Court's six-month ban on Nirapon, an alliance of 23 foreign RMG buyers to oversee building inspection, remediation, and monitoring of listed apparel factories in the country.
The Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order on Monday (Dec 2) rejecting a petition that challenged the HC ban.
Lawyer Imtiaz Mainul Islam stood for the alliance in the court.
On Oct 23, the HC imposed the ban on Nirapon following a supplementary petition filed a local factory owner.
The petitioner said the RMG Sustainability Council was formed to monitor the work environment in export-oriented garment factories.
The HC 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 whom 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.