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Year-long NCC leadership dispute ends, finally
Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) on Tuesday announced that a year-long leadership dispute within the institution settled.The two warring factions, one led by President Suresh Basnet and the other led by Vice-president Lok Manya Golchha, have agreed to work together, withdrawing four court cases.
As per the agreement between the two sides, the existing executive committee has been authorised to hold new annual general meeting within the next three months to elect a new leadership.
“After the two sides realised that the executive committee should not remain vacant for a long, the existing executive committee was given a three-month extension to elect new leadership,” said NCC President Suresh Basnet.
According to Basnet, the two sides reconciled at a court on Thursday after the cases were withdrawn.
With the existing executive committee given a three-month time to hold the new annual general meeting (AGM), Basnet has vowed he will do his bit to hold the AGM within the stipulated time.
According to former NCC President Surendra Bir Malakar, the dispute ended after Basanet agreed not to stand for the next term if he is allowed to hold the next AGM, which was postponed for an indefinite period after the dispute. “Both the sides realised that the dispute smeared the image of NCC, the oldest private sector body, and harmed the image of the private sector as a whole,” he said. “It was also realised that NCC’s role was being minimised in forums where issues of national importance are discussed.”
After the declaration that the dispute has been settled, the first meeting of the NCC executive committee took place on Tuesday, which decided to reconstruct the NCC in a unified way.
On another dispute over whether fresh memberships be issued, Malakar said the two sides agreed to issue the memberships to those who were decided to be given the membership by the executive committee before the fall out between the two sides. “In the case of other applicants, the new executive committee will decide,” he said.
The dispute that arose a year ago led to an indefinite postponement of the AGM. NCC remained leaderless for one year after the election issue went to the court.
In fact, the dispute over whether the existing president be allowed to contest for a second term or a new one be elected had pushed the six-decade-old institution into a serious crisis. With Basnet keen to contest for a second term, more than two thirds of the executive committee members led by Golchha resigned from the executive committee on “moral grounds”.
They claimed as per the NCC statute, the executive committee automatically dissolves if the AGM is not held within mid-April every year. If the executing executive committee fails to hold AGM in the stipulated time, the secretariat should be mandated to hold the election, according to their claims.
Another dispute regarding the membership distribution worsened the situation further. While Basnet had asked for a fresh membership distribution, the NCC secretariat, which was under general secretary Kamlesh Kumar Agrawal of the rival faction, denied accepting applications for new membership and membership renewal submitted by around 1,500 individuals. This led to sealing and locking of the NCC Secretariat at Kantipath, Kathmandu, by the faction supporting Basnet for 22 days. Later, a team led by Golchha, in presence of Kathmandu Chief District Officer, lifted the lockout.