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The meeting agreed on three issues: a2i cannot participate in commercial activities, form a company and incorporate the presidents of the five trade bodies to the board of directors as its members.

But section 21 of the law allows a2i to form a company.

“The parliamentary process of forming a law was not followed here,” said Russell T Ahmed, president of BASIS, the trade body for software and IT-enabled services providers.

The parliamentary standing committee meeting was filmed, he said.

“So if the video or the meeting minutes are made public, one will see that the decision of the meeting has not been reflected in the law. We all came out of the meeting that day [June 18] with happy faces as all of our demands were met.”

The bill goes against the interests of the country and the industry.

“This is unacceptable -- we will formally raise the issue and will take it to the prime minister,” Ahmed added.

The trade bodies sought the meeting minutes but are yet to get the document, said Wahid Sharif, president of BACCO.

“We are surprised -- we cannot find any logical explanation. We don’t know if it was because of a mistake. If it was a mistake, it needs to be corrected,” he added.

Contacted, Md Nurul Amin, a lawmaker who is a member of the standing committee, said he could not remember the contents of the meeting.

Fakhrul Imam, a Jatiya Party lawmaker, vehemently opposed the bill in the parliament on Wednesday.

“If the law gets passed, a2i will do consultancy work and contractor’s work simultaneously,” he said.

In response, Palak said most of the objections raised about the law have been met.

Rahmatullah and Palak could not be reached for comment.