The Patan High Court has paved the way for the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), the country’s largest umbrella body of the private sector, to conduct its special general meeting (SGM) scheduled for Thursday.

In a ruling on Wednesday, the court said there was no need to issue a stay order to suspend the process of holding the SGM as sought by the petitioner, FNCCI President Pashupati Murarka told the Post.

The FNCCI had called the SGM to make some crucial changes to its statute, including automatic elevation of the senior FNCCI vice-president to the post of president upon completion of three-year tenure of the latter, and holding private sector lobbying body’s polls as per the federal structure proposed by the new constitution.

Earlier, former FNCCI senior vice-president Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar and Govind P Ghimire, an FNCCI member and the president of the Nepal Herbs and Herbal Products Association, had expressed reservations over the decision to make changes to statute through the SGM. They had subsequently moved the court seeking a stay order to suspend the process of holding the special general meeting.

The two had argued that the proposed amendments to the statute should be tabled during the annual general meeting (AGM) and not the SGM. The other side, however, said SGMs are more participatory, as they cannot be conducted without the presence of 50 percent of general members, as against 40 percent required for AGMs.

“For now, this debate is likely to subside, as the court has already come up with a ruling,” Murarka said. With this, the FNCCI is all set to hold its SGM on Thursday morning at Army Officers’ Club in Sundhara.

The issue of making amendment to the statute through the SGM had landed in controversy due to a deep division in the FNCCI. During the previous FNCCI presidential election, members were split into panels headed by Pradeep Jung Pandey and Rajkarnikar, who was defeated in the polls.

Later, Bhawani Rana, from Pandey’s panel, was elected as the senior vice-president. Currently senior vice-presidents of the FNCCI are chosen by executive committee members instead through a general election.

If Thursday’s SGM approves the proposal to automatically elevate

senior FNCCI vice-president to the post of president after completion of president’s tenure, chances of Rana becoming the next president of the largest private sector umbrella body will soar.

Considering this, some of the senior and influential FNCCI members have recommended that the current senior vice-president sh0uld not be allowed to automatically assume the post of president even if the proposal to promote senior vice-president to the post of president is endorsed. They argue that the provision can be implemented after the new team assumes office, as during that tenure the senior vice-president would be someone who was directly elected by general members.

“All these issues would be discussed tomorrow (Thursday),” said Murarka.