GUJRAT, Oct 30: Serious violations of the Trade Organisations rules have been reported in membership of the Gujrat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GTCCI) as according to the rules members of Pakistan Electric Fan Manufacturers Association (Pefma) cannot become the member of the chamber.

Sources in the Directorate of Trade Organisation and GTCCI told Dawn that according to the rule 2(d) of the trade organisation act, an association is licensed to represent a specific trade or industry on all Pakistan basis. Hence it shall be removed from the membership register of the chamber. However, in the case of the Pefma membership the rule is being violated from the last so many years, sources said.

The Pefma has recently got itself registered according to the new trade organisation law of 2007 as an autonomous body and the elections for its executive committee and the chairman are scheduled to be held in the next month.

It has also been affiliated with Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and also has its representative in the apex body. About 100 members of the association also enjoy membership of GTCCI, which is against the rules.

Sources said that ministry of commerce had issued a letter on the request of various chambers of commerce of the country to clarify the matter and that letter had been sent to the presidents of all chambers of commerce and industry of the country.

However, the founding chairman of Pefma Mirza Imtiaz Ahmed while talking to Dawn expressed ignorance about the rule 2(d) of Trade Organisation Act and said that the members of Pefma had been registered in GTCCI since 1993 and nobody had ever raised the issue.

He said that case of other chambers of the country, the rule have not been applied anywhere as some manufacturing corporations of Gujrat, Sialkot, and Gujranwala can get representation in the trade or industry organisations of the manufacturers of the same products.

He said that following the promulgation of the new trade ordinance 2007, the old rules did not apply. Meanwhile, on Wednesday 69 candidates from both the rival GTCCI founder group and Shaheen group, have submitted their nomination papers for the slot of executive committee’s both categories--corporate class and associate class.

It may be mentioned that an inquiry into the matters of GTCCI has already been taking place on the direction of Lahore High Court, which had reinstated the office bearers and executive committee members by setting aside the earlier order of disillusionment of the GTCCI office bearers and executive committee by the DTO on Sept 29.