An extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM) of the Envoy Textiles Limited was held on Saturday at the Shooting Club of Gulshan in the capital.
Tanveer Ahmed has been appointed as Managing Director in the meeting, allegedly without taking into account an order of High Court division to this matter.
Earlier, in two separate office orders from the Ministry of Commerce dated 26 July 2023 and 13 November 2023, referring to Section 109 of the Companies Act, Tanveer Ahmed was given permission to be appointed as Managing Director of Envoy Textiles and 39 other companies and also Spain-Bangladesh Agro Industries Limited and Food Zone Limited.
It is to be noted that Syed Md Nurul Amin, a shareholder of Envoy Textile Limited, filed a writ petition (No-2481/2024) in the High Court division last Thursday (February 29, 2024) against Tanveer Ahmed and others concerned, challenging the validity of the office orders of the Ministry of Commerce. After hearing the Writ Petition, a bench of the High Court issued a Ruling on 29th February 2024 and challenged the Ministry of Commerce in their Office Orders issued on 26th July 2023 and 13th November 2023 -- which is contrary to the section 109 of the Companies Act, 1994. They have also been asked to ‘show cause’ why the two office orders of the Ministry of Commerce shall not be declared to have been passed without lawful authority and is of no legal effect.
At the same time, the division bench also suspended the operation of the commerce ministry’s office orders for a period of six months. Sayeed Abdullah Al Mamun Khan, the lawyer of Syed Md. Nurul Amin in the writ petiion, told reporters on Saturday that since the High Court suspended the office orders of the Ministry of Commerce on last Thursday, Tanveer Ahmed has no scope to hold the position of managing director of a public limited company as per section 109 of the Companies Act.
However, since Tanveer Ahmed is currently holding the position of Managing Director of 41 companies (which are not being run as a single entity) he can hold the position of Managing Director of Envoy Textiles subject to permission from the government as per section 109 (2) of the Companies Act. After receiving the High Court judgment, the Chairman, Managing Director and Company Secretary of the Envoy Textiles were duly informed, he said.
Despite that they ignored the matter and appointed Tanveer Ahmed as Managing Director in the EGM on Saturday keeping the court order secret from the shareholders which is against the Section 109 of Companies Act.