NAWABSHAH, March 30 Nawabshah gymkhana affairs took a new turn on Monday when acting district nazim Abdul Haq Jamali became the new gymkhana president after DCO Naeem Malik withdrew his order whereby he had appointed himself president and formed a managing committee. Mr Jamali issued his first order as the president, appointing a new managing committee, which kept EDO of revenue Rasheed Ahmed Zardari as secretary and EDO of finance Farooq Mahesar as treasurer. The officials who were not members of the gymkhana were also on the much-criticised DCO's body.

According to gymkhana members, appointment of non-members to important posts was illegal and in clear violation of the constitution.

The new order makes Ziaul Hassan Lanjar vice-president, Syed Shoaib Shah joint secretary, Arshad Ali Qureshi as sports secretary and Islam Khan Zardari, Dr Nasir Mughal and Saleem Raza Jalbani members of the executive committee. The DCO had replaced MNA Faryal Talpur by appointing himself as the president of the gymkhana through an official order issued on Saturday.

He formed the managing committee and made EDOs of revenue and EDO of finance as secretary and treasurer and appointed MNA Faryal Talpur as patron-in-chief of the gymkhana, a post which did not exist on the constitution before and apparently was created to accommodate and appease her.

Ms Talpur has been gymkhana president since 2001 when she was elected district nazim.

Interestingly, the new order keeps the EDO's on their posts but removes MNA Faryal Talpur from the new managing committee.

The acting district nazim, like the DCO, has appointed the new managing committee without dissolving the sitting body.

According to article 17 of the constitution and by-laws of gymkhana, “the president shall nominate any permanent member to act as secretary and form a managing committee with vice-president, joint secretary, treasurer, sports secretary and executive committee.”

It further stated that “no member, who has not completed five years of permanent membership, shall be eligible for election to any post of office-bearers or member of the managing committee.”

Gymkhana Secretary Dr Mohammed Ali Sohail said that the acting nazim's order had kept EDOs of revenue and finance who were not members of gymkhana as secretary and treasurer.

Syed Munir Shah, gymkhana member, said that the constitution and by-laws of the gymkhana had again been violated with regard to appointment to important posts of secretary and treasurer.

He said that no member was informed or taken into confidence before issuance of the new order. The sitting managing committee should be dissolved and schedule for elections should be announced to pull the gymkhana out of crisis, he said.

Nazimuddin Burdi, another member, said that many development works were carried out under the tenure of Faryal Talpur and Dr Mohammed Ali Sohail as president and secretary.

He said that the new order had not dissolved the sitting body of gymkhana. The constitution of another new managing committee with non-members as office-bearers was highly condemnable, he said.

Sources said that the managing committee had approached the bank, requesting it to put freeze on the gymkhana's account till the crisis was over.

Majority of the members condemned the new order, which kept non-members on important posts and urged MNA Faryal Talpur to intervene to help end the crisis.

Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, vice-president of the gymkhana, said that the acting district nazim had taken over as president of the gymkhana after Faryal Talpur resigned as district nazim.