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LHC suspends DTO's order in Aptma case

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The Lahore High Court has suspended the order of the Directorate of Trade Organisations issued on January 13, 2000 removing the Convener of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association from his position.

Meanwhile, the Sindh High Court has also extended the hearing date of the case regarding the removal of Humayun Elahi Shaikh. The next hearing will be on January 26.

Following is the press release issued by Aptma on Wednesday.

The Director Trade Organisations (DTO) vide his order dated January 13, 2000, declared the resolution passed by Aptma Managing Committee whereby Humayun Ellahi Shaikh had been appointed as its representative and convenor to carry out day to day affairs with full powers and functions of the chairman.

This order of the DTO was challenged by Humayun Ellahi Shaikh along with other members of Aptma Managing Committee itself in a writ petition before Mr Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum of The LHC through ali Sibtain Fazli, Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan, wherein it had inter alia been contended that the Aptma Managing Committee consists of 27 members having a chairman and three vice chairmen of three zones of Aptma. Humayun Ellahi Shaikh, who had been elected unanimously as Aptma chairman in the year 1998-99 for one year term. Now the period has been expired and under Article 54 of the Association of Atpma, since fresh elections have not been held for the chairman, the powers to manage the affairs of the Aptma vests with the managing committee.

A controversy had arisen on the expiration of the term of Humayun Ellahi Shaikh, who represented the zones consisting of Sindh and Balochistan regarding re-election of a member from the same zones.

The NWFP Zone expressed that the office of the chairman has to be rotated among the members of the various zones every year while other members said a member of the same zone could be elected for the second term.

The members of the NWFP Zone went in a writ petition before the Peshawar High Court. But the petition was dismissed as being pre-mature with an observation that although the DTO can interpret the articles of the association, but would do so only, if Aptma itself had failed to do so. In the meanwhile, another member from Sindh-Balochistan Zone filed a civil suit in the Sindh High Court. This petition was also dismissed with an observation that Aptma should resolve its dispute in terms of Article 100 of Association which says that "dispute should be resolved by members of Aptma itself.

In this connection an extra ordinary general meeting of Aptma was also called. However, in the meanwhile, the NWFP member moved the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries for arbitration on their own motion which passed an award and filed it in the Sindh High Court to be made rule of the court, wherein objections were being filed by Aptma.

While all this was going on, the DTO, on an application by the member of the NWFP, passed the impugned order ex-parte without hearing either Humayun Ellahi Shaikh, the Aptma Managing Committee.

The order, therefore, was in violation of the principles of natural justice. It was also contended in the writ petition that the order was illegal as the decision of Managing Committee was not violative of articles of the association warranting action by the DTO u/s 9(f) of the Trade Organisation Ordinance and that appointment of Vice Chairman of NWFP to hold elections for chairman was also illegal. The writ petition was admitted and notice in the stay matter has been issued by the Honourable Court for January 26, 2000. It has been ordered that the operation of the impugned order passed by the DTO shall remain suspended. A copy of the order dated January 18, 2000 is enclosed herewith.