Only 37 buying houses got registered with the Department of Textiles in the government-set two-month timeframe that ended on July 28, according to DoT officials. In a gazette notification issued on May 28, the textiles and jute ministry directed all the buying houses in the garment and textile sector to get registered with the DoT within 60 days of issuance of the notification to run business in the country. DoT officials said as of Monday 135 buying houses including the 37 that got registered submitted applications to the department to obtain registration following the government instruction. In the gazette notification, the ministry also said that as per the section 14 of Textile Act 2018, all the buying houses must have to be registered with the DoT within 60 days of issuance of the notification and if any buying house sought time extension with valid reasons, the registrar could allow 60 more days. If any buying house fails to obtain registration on time, the government will take legal action against the company as per law, it said. DoT director general Dilip Kumar Saha told reporters that they extended 60 more days for buying houses to file applications with the department for registration. Regarding poor response from buying houses, he said it was a new initiative and many of the buying houses were yet to be aware about the government notification. Earlier, on April 1, the ministry issued a gazette notification detailing what would be the procedure for getting the registration of buying houses with the DoT. It said that the buying houses would have to file applications with the DoT with the documents of updated trade licence, income tax certificate, certificate of incorporation as limited company, estimated yearly turnover and bank solvency certificate. The ministry has set Tk 20,000 as fee for the registration and it would have to be paid through bank draft or pay order. Subject to receiving documents and if necessary, inspection report, the registrar would give registration within 60 days of submitting application and the validity of the registration certificate would be three years. According to the DoT officials, there are more than 1,000 garment and textile buying houses across the country. They said that many buying houses, which are associate members of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, were not getting registration as they were not members of the Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association. Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association president Kazi Iftequer Hossain on Monday told New Age that it was difficult to say the actual number of buying houses but there were many companies across the country beyond their 470 members. ‘Now we are receiving 10 to 15 applications for membership every day as the government has made it mandatory for buying houses to obtain membership certificate from the association concerned to get registered with the DoT,’ he said. Iftequer said that 135 applications had been filed with DoT in two months and it was a poor number but many of the buying houses were facing problem in renewal of their trade licences. He hoped that the government initiative to bring buying houses under registration would ensure discipline in the buying house sector.
