HYDERABAD: In a coup-like attempt to take over the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI), its former president Goharullah along with a group of unconcerned people allegedly broke open the door of chamber’s secretariat and tried to install his relative, Mohammad Shahid, as its president on Saturday. However, the incumbent HCCI leadership and police rushed to the secretariat and got it locked.

A two-line “HCCI press release” was also issued during the day stating that its president, Mohammad Ikram Rajput, had tendered his resignation for personal reasons and Mohammad Shahid had been “elected” the chamber’s president.

Mr Rajput, who was in Karachi while Goharullah was leading the high drama, rushed back to deny having tendered his resignation. The HCCI management reported the matter to the Hyderabad SSP informing him that “Goharullah trespassed the office along with outsiders”. The area police arrived and they along with the ministerial staff locked the chamber.

The SSP asked Ikram Rajput and Mohammad Shahid to come to his camp office to ascertain facts.

Goharullah, better known as Seth Goharullah, had been running the chamber’s affairs for a long time by virtue of litigation that had blocked HCCI election and finally he had to quit as president in the June 3 election in which Ikram Rajput returned unopposed as president. Mr Rajput has lately served in the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI).

According to HCCI vice president Iqbal Baig, Goharullah along with some unconcerned persons arrived at the chamber and demanded keys of the president’s office. “I refused to hand over the keys and told him that the president [Mr Rajput] is away in Karachi. “Then the ex-president and his companions got the lock broken open. Mohammad Shahid occupied the president’s chair and declared him the newly-elected president,” he said.

In the meantime, a large number of Mr Rajput’s supporters arrived at the chamber, where he told the media and members of his managing committee in the presence of Goharullah that he had not resigned.

Iqbal Baig said the managing committee was inquiring into anomalies in the chamber’s record which showed that 270 associate class and 24 corporate class memberships were either fake or the members had defaulted on their fee till March. He said that Goharullah had been pressuring the committee since the initiation of the inquiry.

Several former and sitting members of the chamber said that the attempt to dislodge Ikram Rajput was aimed at covering financial indiscipline and corruption to the tune of millions of rupees. They said that Rs20 million given to the HCCI by the Sindh government had been misappropriated.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2018