KARACHI, Oct 16: Senior members of the defunct board of directors of the Fishermen Cooperative Society have kicked up a controversy over the new membership of the FCS, saying that the present administrator is not empowered to enlist new members as, according to them, it will be tantamount to pre-poll rigging.

On Wednesday, FCS administrator Mohammad Jaffar Khawaja at an ambulances handing-over ceremony had announced that elections for the new 15-member FSC board would be held after the completion of new membership due to be initiated in November.

Reacting to the administrator’s statement, two former directors of the FCS board, Haji Shafi Mohammad Jamote and Haji Mohammad Yunis, criticised the decision of the administrator, saying that he had no right to enlist new members as, they claimed, applications for new members could only be processed by the FCS board of directors, now a defunct body.

Mr Jamote argued that according to the FCS’s bylaws new members could be admitted by its board of directors provided the applicants were bona fide fishermen and actually engaged in the fishing business in the territorial jurisdiction of the FCS.

“Whenever the question arises whether a particular person is a bona fide fisherman or not, the decision of the board on the point shall be final and conclusive,” he said. According to Mr Jamote, there were several pending applications submitted to the defunct board. Another former director, Haji Mohammad Yunis, termed the administrator’s plan to enlist new members “a pre-poll rigging”, adding that the fishermen would not accept such elections.

When contacted for comments, FCS administrator Mohammad Jaffar Khawaja contested the claim of the two former directors of the FCS on the issue. He said as the administrator of the FCS he had all powers to run its day-to-day affairs in the absence of the board.

He said he was fully authorised to take any decision in the interest of the fishermen, adding that nobody could stop any bona fide fishermen from becoming a member of the FCS.

Mr Khawaja dispelled the impression that elections would be rigged, and said they would be held in a transparent manner through secret ballot, and not through the show of hands as was the past practice.

“Only qualified fishermen will be allowed to participate, and polling booths will be set up in fishermen’s villages and areas,” he said.

According to the FCS’s By-law 8, clause 1V, (Membership) Section 11, no person shall be a member unless:

(a) he is a bona fide fisherman, actually engaged in the fishing industry in areas mentioned in bylaw No 3.

(aa) he is interested in the fishing industry and owns a fishing vessel

(b) he is not a minor

(c) he has purchased at least one share

(d) Members may be admitted by the board of directors at their discretion.