NCC fails to hold election for new executive body

KATHMANDU, APR 13:

Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) — the umbrella organisation of traders — will be run by employees as elections to the executive committee were not held as scheduled on April 8. Such a situation has emerged for the first time at NCC since its inception in 1952.

NCC has entered a difficult situation because of the monopoly of president Suresh Kumar Basnet, said senior vice-president Lokmanya Golchha in a press meet, today.

“The leadership of NCC will go to employees from Sunday as there will be no executive committee,” he said, adding that the organisation’s statute has a provision to elect a new

executive committee within two years.

According to him, the employees’ committee must hold an election within 35 days and hand over the executive power to the executive committee. “However, there is a problem as two cases related to the elections are under consideration at the Appellate Court, Patan,” he said. It depends on the court’s verdict, he added.

Basnet’s supporters have filed two cases — about obstruction in obtaining new membership and renewing membership — at the Appellate Court, Patan. The court has called the warring parties for the first hearing on April 15 .

As per the plan, NCC was supposed to conduct the election on April 7-8, but president Basnet called off the general meeting by publishing a notice in newspapers on March 22. He also padlocked the NCC secretariat between March 17 and April 8.

According to treasurer Rajendra Aryal, president Basnet is in a minority with just six to seven supporting him from among the 39 executive committee members. The group, headed by Golchha, has at least 31 members, so Basnet should ease the election process. We want elections at the earliest, he said.

Source: THT