Kathmandu, August 16

The executive committee meeting of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) today decided to call a special annual general meeting (AGM) of the organisation on November 15 to amend its statute to elect its next president through direct election.

The FNCCI’s statute was last amended in October 2016 just before the election of incumbent leadership Bhawani Rana, when a provision was introduced whereby the senior vice-president will be directly appointed as president after the president completes the tenure.

The largest body representing the private sector has called for the special AGM on the given date to decide over the same provision once again.

A group of members, led by former president of FNCCI, Chandi Raj Dhakal, who is also a senior member of the federation, had tabled the proposal to call special AGM during the previous executive committee meeting of FNCCI. The FNCCI executive committee meeting approved the proposal unanimously today.

“The proposal to host the special AGM has been passed unanimously at today’s meeting. FNCCI will have the special AGM on November 15,” informed Kishore Pradhan, vice-president at FNCCI.

Among others, former president of FNCCI Dhakal has been lobbying against the system of directly appointing the senior vice-president to FNCCI’s top post and seeking amendment to the FNCCI statute. Interestingly, Dhakal himself was the major player behind FNCCI’s statute amendment process in 2016 and introducing the controversial provision.

A senior office bearer at FNCCI, seeking anonymity, informed that Dhakal had been asking for ‘support’ from the current senior vice-president. “However, as the incumbent senior vice-president and his team refused to provide any ‘support’ to Dhakal, who is reportedly reeling under huge debt, he has reverted on his earlier stance and is calling for direct election of president at FNCCI,” the official added.

Neither Dhakal nor Shekhar Golchha, the current senior vice-president of FNCCI, were available for comment.

Under the current provision, Golchha would lead FNCCI after the tenure of incumbent President Bhawani Rana ends.

As the special AGM has been announced, FNCCI will have voting on the given provision regarding appointment/election of its president on November 15.

Meanwhile, Pashupati Murarka, former president of FNCCI, submitted a note of dissent against FNCCI executive committee’s decision to call for special AGM. “The call for the special AGM should have been made only after holding ample discussions on the statute amendment proposal with the members of district and municipal chambers and other members of FNCCI. However, the FNCCI executive committee passed the proposal without necessary discussion with its members as required by the statute,” informed Murarka.