Male council company withheld over non-compliance: Registrar

A company has not been registered for the Male City Council as the council has failed to comply with the rules, economic ministry said Thursday. 

The city council on Wednesday criticised the government for failing to do so despite asking it to register a company for a year. Male City Mayor Mohamed Muizzu said that although Male City Council was the first to complete the requirements for a company, he was surprised that the Thoddu council was registered first.

Asked by Atoll Times on Thursday about remarks, Registrar of companies Mariyam Visam said:

"However, the company has not been registered as it has not been completed and submitted yet," Visam said.

Visam said that one of the main hurdles in registering local authority companies with local councils is that they have also proposed to carry out the kind of business done by the people of the island. Visam said that in the local bodies law as well as in the regulations, the local authority company is only allowed to do things on a commercial basis so that it can be provided as a service to the people. 

"Such companies cannot do the business done by common people. Therefore, we are working closely with the civic bodies to rectify such proposals," Visam said.

"We have to ensure that small businesses are not affected by this, to not hinder them."

He added that training programmes are also being conducted once a month for those interested in becoming directors of local authority companies. Since it is a new kind of company, people need to be trained in this process, Visam said.