The Softex Cotton Limited has filed a suit against the members of review panel for the factory closure without prior notice, seeking a compensation package worth US$100m.
The plaintiff of the suit also sought 20% interest per year till realisation of the compensation and cost of the suit, in accordance with the case filed on Wednesday.
It would be the first such case in Bangladesh after the Accord and Alliance began inspection of the readymade garments factories in Bangladesh in an effort to ensure factory safety standards.
A review panel following recommendation by the buyers’ platforms has so far closed 19 factories allegedly for their poor conditions as compared to the standard specifications of the factories. Production of 10 more factories has also been suspended.
Industry insiders said other factory owners, who faced closure or
production suspension, were also observing the developments of Softex’s legal notice.
The defendants of the case are Brad Loewen, chief security inspector of Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, Kazi Wahidul Haque, representative of Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, Shahidullah Azim, representative of BGMEA, Syed Fakhrul Ameen and professor Ahsanul Kabi, representative of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Syed Ahmed, and Sanjoy Kumar Das, representative of Factories and Establishment Inspection Directorate.
The company lodged the suit with the Joint District Judge Court of Dhaka as the review panel did not provide satisfactory explanation responding to the legal notice and their “justification” was not come in proper time, Md Matiur Rahman, a lawyer of Softex Cotton Limited, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The next date for the return of service of summons is fixed on May 26, 2014
On April 29, Softex served the legal notice to Accord claiming compensation worth $100m for the damage the factory would have incurred since shutting down the factory on March 6.
The legal notice had demanded payment of compensation and sought apology within 7 days.
The decisions made by the review panel were not in accordance with the laws or under the provision of Bangladesh Labour Act 2006, the plaintiff said in its suit.
Under the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006, there is no provision of a “Review Panel or its power and function or authority to inspect the factory of the plaintiff or instruct it to shut it down, it said.
Following the deadliest incident at Rana Plaza building collapse that killed over 1,100 workers, the retailers’ platforms Accord and Alliance had made commitment to provide financial and technical support to improve fire and building safety standard of RMG factories, from where they source products.
As per their commitment, the Accord will inspect over 1700 factories till September 2014 for fire, electrical, and building safety, while Alliance will inspect over 600 factories.
On February 20, the Accord, a platform of 150 European retailers, launched the first phase of inspection and inspected over 550 factories for fire and electrical safety structural safety.
On the other hand, the Alliance for Workers Safety in Bangladesh had inspected 508 factories.
