KARACHI, July 8: The managing committee of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has proposed changes and amendments in the memorandum and articles of the KCCI in which one of the changes says that the president should be elected for two years from 2004.

An urgent meeting in this regard was held on Saturday under the presidentship of Haroon Bari, which adopted a special resolution, pertaining to amendments in the Memorandum and Articles of the Association of the Chamber.

It was resolved that the managing committee of the KCCI including the president shall consist of 31 members for a term of two years. The president will be elected from the general body for one term of two years and thereby the system of one third members of retirement stands abolished. They can recontest the election after a gap of one year on completion of their term. President will, however, not be eligible on for re-election.

The electoral college of senior vice president and vice president will continue to be members of managing committee who would be elected for a period of one year.

It was resolved that the class of trade groups and resultant provision of delegate members will be abolished. Two seats out of 30 seats of managing committee will be reserved for the town association, whose electoral college will be the general body.

For the first time starting from 2004, election for 16 seats including one of president will be held for a period of two years and in the subsequent year, election shall be held for 15 seats thereafter the cycle of 16 and 15 will continue.

President KCCI, Haroon Bari told Dawn that all these amendments are expected to be approved for recommendation in the extraordinary general body meeting to be held in the second week of next month.

These changes are aimed at improving the environment of the chamber besides building up the image of the KCCI, he added.

It was also resolved that the admission fee for member class (I) will be Rs500 instead of Rs300 and the annual subscription fee will be Rs800 as against Rs650. The admission fee for town association (II) is fixed at Rs5,000 instead of Rs500 and the annual subscription fee will be Rs3,000 as against Rs2,000.

A candidate contesting the election of managing committee and the president will be required to deposit Rs25,000 out of which Rs15,000 and Rs10,000 will be the security deposit, which would be forfeited if a candidate failed to secure at least 10 per cent vote of the total vote cast.

The managing committee meeting resolved that some more amendments will be enforced in phases. Election 2002 will be held for 10 members (including one reserved seat for town association) of the managing committee. The members from general class will be liable to balloting for determining the retirement of four members on completion of one year and the remaining for two years. The term of the member against the reserved seat will be one year.

Election 2003 will be held for 15 members of managing committee. In the election 2002 and 2003, the electoral college of office bearers would continue to be the managing committee for a period of one year.