The Businessmen Group (BMG) of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has announced to contest in the court the order of the Directorate of Trade Organisation (DTO) staying Chamber's election scheduled for September 24.
Announcing the panel of candidates including Haroon Farouqi as the presidential candidate at a Press conference on Saturday at the Chamber, the BMG leader Siraj Kassam Teli said his group, which had been winning elections for the seven consecutive years, would adopt a legal course.
He was confident that his Group would win the court case and elections would be held on schedule announced by the Chamber. However, the Group would not suffer if the elections were delayed as it was already at the helm of power in the Chamber, he added.
Teli claimed that his group enjoyed support of 80 percent of the business community and the DTO was siding with a small defeated group of businessmen who were not the genuine representatives of the trade but only possessed the quality of being yes men.
He said the KCCI was the country's largest trade body represented by businessmen, contributing 67 percent of the total taxes. The DTO by supporting a businessmen mafia group wanted to create anarchy and wanted to harm the unity of the Karachi businessmen.
Teli pointed out that the Karachi Chamber had presented through its lawyers the entire proceeding of the general body meeting, which last year through an amendment in articles of association had reduced the tenure of the elected President and other office bearers to one year. The amendment was passed by 75 votes against only 25 votes against.
The Chamber wrote a number of letters to the DTO asking it to approve the amendment during the last one and a half-year, but there was no response. The Chamber after assuming that the DTO has withdrawn objection to the amendment announced the election schedule. It however emerged from a long slumber to stay elections at the Karachi Chamber which is part of democratic process now underway in the entire country.