The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism has decided to hold annual general meeting of Biman Bangladesh Airlines this month as per the High Court directive.
“We will hold AGM of the Biman this month (March) as per the High Court order and hope the present crisis will be resolved then,”Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The ministry had lately dissolved the airlines’ the highest decision-making body as it “failed to hold” AGM within the stipulated time, which was December last year.
The absence of board hampered the national flag carrier’s smooth operation and stopped the process of taking all policy decisions.
Biman had to halt preparation of launching operation in new routes, approval of a new organogram and a new pay scale, appointment of General Sales Agent (GSA) and renewal of GSA agreements for different stations due to the dissolving of board.
The scheduled resumption of operations in two old routes and launching of three new routes in April remained uncertain as the board’s final approvals were still pending.
However, there were controversies about the way the ministry had dissolved the board. A Biman official said the Companies Act didn’t empower the ministry to dissolve board of directors before holding AGM.
Another official said if Biman failed to hold AGM in time, the board would automatically be dissolved.
He said: “Biman needs a major overhauling in the structure of management to ensure accountability and transparency.”
