The High Court has directed the Accord, a factory inspection agency of more than 200 European clothing brands, to arrange an immediate inspection at Liberty Fashion Wears Limited, a major supplier of the platform’s members.The factory was skipped for inspection by the agency after Medway Consultancy Services, one of the consulting firms of Accord member Tesco, in May 2013 deemed the four-storied building on 20 bighas of land at Zirani to be vulnerable.Following MCS’s report Tesco and other buyers stopped sourcing from the factory, which compelled Mozammel Huq, chairman and managing director of Liberty Fashion Wears, to close down operations.At that time, Liberty Fashions shipped garment items worth Tk 312 crore a year and employed 5,000.Huq, however, refused to accept the report from MCS and ran tests on soil and Detailed Engineering Assessment by the experts of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.Experts from the International Labour Organisation also said the building was fit for operation.Emboldened by the positive reports from BUET, BGMEA and ILO, the factory management opened negotiations with Tesco, the factory’s lead buyer, once again but Tesco did not budge from its previous position.As per the rules, the Accord engineers were supposed to check the Liberty Fashion Wears building as well when the inspection rounds started in June 2013, as Tesco is a member of the platform.But, the Accord upheld the decision of the MCS and did not inspect the building. Huq challenged the decision of the Accord and filed a case with the High Court, whose verdict was given on March 2.The court in its verdict also ordered the Accord to publish the inspection report on its website and circulate it among its members.“These matters are pending in the Bangladesh High Court. Accordingly, the Accord has no comment at this time on these pending court matters,” said Rob Wayss, executive director and acting chief safety inspector of the Accord.“Even after the verdict from the High Court nobody from the Accord has contacted me or my management,” Huq said. The Liberty Fashion Wears was constructed following the building codes of Bangladesh and the standards set by the buyers, he added.Yousuf Ali, one of the lawyers of the case, said the Accord cannot deny the inspection of Liberty Fashion Wears building as the company had been supplying garment items to the association’s members.In another verdict on the same day, the High Court issued a stay order on termination of business relations by the Accord with two other factories, Interloop BD Ltd and Heasong Knitwears Limited.For Interloop, the stay order is for eight weeks and for Heasong, until the next hearing on March 21.The Accord suspended its business relations with Interloop on the basis of soil test report.Jafrul Hasan Sharif, lawyer for all three petitioners, said the cases were supposed to be settled in a court in The Netherlands as the Accord is registered in Amsterdam.But the cases were shifted to Bangladesh upon the Accord’s request. In the articles of the Accord there is no provision of appeal of their activities in the court, Sharif said.“It is the violation of human rights. In every system there should have a system of appeal in the court.”After the Rana Plaza building collapse, more than 200 European-based clothing retailers formed the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh to strengthen workplace safety by checking the soundness of electrical, fire and structural facilities. The Accord is a five-year long legally binding agreement that was signed in May 2013.
