KARACHI, Oct 20: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Khalid Firoz on Thursday resigned from his office with immediate effect. Senior Vice-President Abdul Majeed Memon will act as president till the election of the new president.

The move is the result of ongoing pressure from the Businessmen Group (Teli) against the verdict of the Director Trade Organization (DTO) which had asked Khalid Firoz to continue for another period as per rule of the Memorandum of Association of the Chamber.

The chamber had amended the memorandum, expanding the tenure of the office of the president from one year to two years and sent the same to the DTO for approval. Meanwhile, the management of the KCCI held the elections for the one-year term as the approval of the DTO was not consented by then. The management accordingly amended the memorandum again, clipping the two-year term to one year and sent the amendment to the DTO again for approval.

The DTO rejected the second amendment, making the term of the president for two years, which by then was not acceptable to the ruling Businessmen Group. The KCCI management moved the court but lost the case and the president was allowed to complete the two-year term as per the memorandum of association.

The Teli group decided to enforce their own decision by exerting pressure on the president to resign so that the election for the office of the president could be held along with the elections of the managing committee on September 24. But the group failed to get the resignation due to certain internal politics and Mr Firoz was allowed to continue, while the rest of the election process was completed.

Since then the group, led by Siraj Kassem Teli, continued to fizzle out the DTO decision and succeeded in getting the resignation of the president.—APP