KARACHI, Jan 15: The Sindh High Court suspended on Thursday the Karachi Race Club administrator's decision to cancel the membership of all its 1,500 members and enrol them afresh after scrutiny.

The stay order was passed by a division bench, comprising Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and S. Ali Aslam Jafri, on a writ petition moved by a former chairman of the managing committee of the Karachi Race Club (Private) Limited, Yusuf Dada.

The managing committee was superseded, the petitioner removed and Fakir Syed Aitazazuddin appointed the KRC administrator under an ordinance promulgated by the Sindh Governor on Oct 6.

The ordinance, issued under Article 128 of the Constitution, inserted a new provision (Section 4A) in the Sindh Race Course Licensing Act, 1912, providing for the supersession of the KRC managing committee and appointment of an administrator with vast powers.

In exercise of his authority under the ordinance, the administrator sent a circular to the KRC members informing them that their membership had been cancelled and that they should apply afresh if they wanted to become members again.

Arguing for the petition, Advocate Raza Hashmi submitted that the KCR was a private limited company incorporated in 1913 under the seal of the companies registrar of Bombay. The provincial government or governor could interfere in its affairs to the extent of charging the licensing fee for the purpose of races.

There was no law providing for the appointment of an administrator by the government in relation to the affairs of a race club. The bench directed that notices be issued to the administrator, the government of Sindh and the advocate-general. The respondents were asked to file comments within two weeks.