The government has curtailed the authority of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies for issuing the No Objection Certificate to its new members, conventionally required for taking new licenses or renewing the licenses, officials said.
Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training has recently served a circular upon all recruiting agencies describing that no recruiting agency is required to take the NOC from the BAIRA to get new licenses or renew their licenses, they said.
A recruiting agency needs to deposit Tk one lakh as government fee and Tk 15 lakh as guarantee money for getting new license from the BMET. The issued licenses are needed for renewal after every two years by paying a fee of Tk 40,000 each time.
The BAIRA was to take Tk three lakh to issue the NOC for each member for getting new license from the government, BAIRA officials said.
A circular signed by BMET director general Begum Shamsun Nahar, dated April 9, was sent to all recruiting agencies.
BMET director (Immigration and Protocol) Mizanur Rahman said although the recruiting agency used to submit the NOC to get its license, now the government has waived that requirement.
BMET director (Employment) Abdul Latif Khan said submitting of BAIRA certificate continued traditionally. Now the government officially asked the recruiting agency not to take the certificate with a view to promote individual activities of the agency.
He said a total of 850 valid recruiting agencies were functioning in the country as on December 31,
2012. The government issued 53 new licenses and cancelled licenses of 10 recruiting agencies last year, he said.
When asked, BAIRA secretary general Ali Haider Chowdhury admitted that many of the BAIRA members received the notice served by the BMET.
He told New Age on Monday that the government knew better why they issued the notice to the BAIRA members. The recruiting agencies have been functioning as per the SROs issued earlier by the government, he said.
-With New Age input
