Former President, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and leader of Businessmen Group (BMG) Siraj Kasim Teli has proposed that the laws governing trade bodies must not clash and be in harmony with each other and must not have any word with double meaning ie Trade Organisation Ordinance Memorandum and Article of Association of all the chambers and associations should be in alignment with company law of 1984 and the SECP.
In a letter to Justice Saleem Akhtar (Retd), Chairman Task Force for Amendment in the trade organisation ordinance 1961, he further suggested that once the new trade organisation ordinance is made.the Ministry of commerce for that matter or any ministry should not be allowed to order amendments or make any changes in the rules.
THE OTHER PROPOSALS INCLUDES:
-- No chamber should be allowed to be registered if it does not have a minimum of 150 members. If any city's genuine business concerns are less then the acceptable number they should be allowed to join and become member of the other chamber nearest to that city.
-- All the associations must have minimum of 33 percent of membership of the total number of business and industry concerns in that particular trade.
-- There should not be any reserved seats of any kind in any chamber, association thus eliminating chances of any backdoor entry to the managing committee.
-- There should only be one association of any trade as today there are many associations with different names but actually representing the same trade eg garments, film, paper, steel etc.
-- Laws should be made for eligibility and criteria of becoming a member with NTN number and other authenticate documents.
-- President and chairman should be elected directly from the general body.
-- Elections of 50 percent or 100 percent strength of the managing committee every year be held instead of 1/3rd thus eliminating the chance for Qabza Group.
-- Security Deposit for candidature.
-- There should not be any councils / forums or for that matter any such associations which are legally registered be allowed to function as there are many operating illegally and are also being patronsed by the government.
-- Section 23 of the trade organisation ordinance allows for formation of rules but they have never been made, therefore, it is important that the amendments in law itself will not be enough if proper rules are not made.
-- Implementation of the law and rules cannot be maintained by only a DTO who is just a joint secretary, therefore, the level of personnel looking after implementation should be raised significantly and a new department be raised for that purpose. It should be headed by a retired Judge of High Court or Supreme Court and proper monitoring mechanism be evolved.
Teli said first of all this task force should invite all major chambers of the country such as Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Gujranwala and Peshawar and major associations such as Aptma, PHMA, cement, steel, garments, textile processing, soap, yarn merchants etc.
He said that these invitation should be sent to both the ruling group and the opposition and also to some other stakeholders who do not participate in business politics.
He said that the idea behind inviting all is to get a view point of all the sides and decide on merit, keeping in mind that these trade bodies should be representative of genuine stakeholders and be able to work for the benefit of both.
Teli pointed out that the apex trade body of Pakistan ie FPCCI has constantly been accused of not being the proper representative body of the stakeholders of the business and industrial community of Pakistan as it has many bogus chambers and associations and added that there are at lest 13 chambers and 25 associations which are bogus.
He said that the general body and managing committee of the FPCCI are made every two years from all the chambers and all Pakistan trade associations who are registered and affiliated with FPCCI and since all these chambers and associations do not have proper membership laws and transparent election procedure. Therefore most of them are controlled by a Mafia or small groups who are not genuine representatives. Therefore, those who are nominated on the FPCCI also do not genuinely represent the stakeholders but represent only their godfathers and on the other hand since these are bogus chambers and associations, as well, altogether even if there are some genuine chambers and associations they cannot play any vital role as they are out numbered. He said it is imperative to change the memorandum and articles of association of all the chambers and associations, to make sure that the genuine stakeholders participate and are nominated to the federation as well.
He said that the memorandum of articles of association of the FPCCI should also be discussed thoroughly keeping in mind that the FPCCI must only discuss policy matters at federal level and must not overlap on the work of chambers and association. (2) Minimum level of qualification/ experience be prescribed to hold the position of the president and (3) abolishment of provincial tenures.
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