Through the instant writ petition, the petitioner , Gulzar Firoz, impugns the order dated 4.12.2020 passed by the Directorate General of Trade Organizations ("D.G.T .O."), whereby his appeal filed against the order dated 23.11.2020 passed by the Election Commission of the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry ("the Election Commission "), was dismissed. Vide the said order dated 23.11.2020, the Election Commiss ion dismissed the petitioner's appeal against the order dated 16.11.2020 passed by the Secretary General, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry ("F.P.C.C.I ."), whereby the petitioner's objections dated 09.11.2020 to the nomination of Muhammad Saeed Chaudhry (Respondent No. 4) by the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association ("P.S.M.A .") to take part in the elections of the General Body of the F.P.C.C.I. for the year 2021, were dismissed.
2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the mandate of Rule 11(7) of the Trade Organizations Rules, 2013 ("the 2013 Rules ") is that a trade organization is to have two classes of membership i.e. associate membership and corporate membership; that Respondent No. 4 is the Chief Executive Officer of Hunza Sugar Mills (Pvt.) Ltd. ("H.S.M.L .") which had been granted corporate membership of the P.S.M.A.; that H.S.M.L. is a body corporate with the turnover of more than Rs. 50 million; that Respondent No. 4 could not be nominated by the P.S.M.A. as a representative of the associate class to vote in the F.P.C.C.I.'s elections-2021; that Respondent No. 4 cannot represent the associate class since H.S.M.L. does not qualify to be an associate member of the P.S.M.A.; and that the inclusion of Respondent No. 4's name in the voters list for the associate class is contrary to Rule 15(1)
(b), Rule 11(7) and Rule 21(5)(b) of the Trade Organizations Rules, 2013. Learned counsel for the petitioner prayed for the writ petition to be allowed in terms of the relief sought therein.
3. On the other hand, learned counsel for Respondent No. 4 submitted that under Rule 20(2)(d) of the 2013 Rules, at least one representative is to be nominated from the corporate class; that H.S.M .L. is a corporate member of the P.S.M.A.; that there is no provision in the applicable law which bars a trade organization from nominating more than one representative from the corporate class; and that there is no infirmity in the nomination of Respondent No 4 by the P.S.M.A. to participate in the F.P.C.C.I.'s elections since the requirement to nominate at least one representative from the corporate class has been fulfilled. Learned counsel for Respondent No. 4 prayed for the writ petition to be dismissed.
4. I have heard the contentions of the learned counsel for the contesting parties and have perused the record with their able assistance.
5. As per the voters list for the F.P.C.C.I.'s elections-2021, the name of Respondent No. 4, who is the Chief Executive Officer of H.S.M.L., appears at serial No. 182. The said voters list also shows that Respondent No. 4 was nominated to participate in the elections of the General Body (Associate) of the F.P.C.C.I. It is not the petitioner's case that no representative from the corporate class had been nominated by the P.S.M.A. to participate in the said elections.
6. Rule 20(2)(b) of the 2013 Rules provid es inter alia that the general body of the Federation shall comprise the representatives, nominated by each licensed chamber , association, etc. subject to the condition that the representatives shall be the members of the nominating trade organization. It is not disputed that H.S.M.L. (whose Chief Executive Officer is Respondent No. 4) is a member of the P.S.M.A. Rule 20(2)(d) of the 2Q13 Rules mandates that in case of an association, at least one representative so nominated shall be nominated from the corporate class. The said provision does not place an embargo on an association from nominating more than one representative from the corporate class. The use of the words "at least" in Rule 20(2)(d) of the 2013 Rules implies that more than one representative from the corporate class can be nominated by an association for the general body of the Federation. The P.S.M.A. did nominate Mr. Zakria Usman as its representative for the F.P.C.C.I.'s elections-2021 from the corporate class. Therefore, the requirement of Rule 20(2)(d) of the 2013 Rules also stands fulfilled with the nomination of Mr . Zakria Usman by the P .S.M.A.
7. The Trade Organizations Act, 2013 ("the 2013 Act") and the Rules made thereunder do not place any bar on an association from nominating more than one representative from the corporate class. Learned counsel for the petitioner could not controvert that all the members of the P.S.M.A. fall in the category of corporate members.
Therefore, the nomination of Respondent No. 4 by the P.S.M.A., and his inclusion in the voters list for the F.P.C.C.I.'s elections-2021 does not suffer from any legal infirmity . In the voters list for the F.P.C.C.I.'s elections- 2021, Respondent No. 4 is to be treated from the category of corporate class and not associate class. F.P.C.C.I. shall accordingly amend the voters list.
8. It is pertinent to mention that vide order dated 15.12.2020, this Court dismissed writ petition No. 3756/2020 titled "Gulzar Firoz vs. Director General of Trade Organizations and others " challenging the order dated 04.12.2020 passed by the D.G.T .O. whereby the Election Commission's order to exclude the name of Gulzar Firoz (the present petitioner) from the voters list of the F.P.C.C.I.'s elections-2021, was upheld. The exclusion of the petitioner's name from the voters list was made on the ground that M/s. Firoz International (in which the petitioner is one of the partners), was not engaged in the business of tanning of leather and therefore could not have been nominated by the Pakistan Tanners Association to take part in the F .P.C.C.I.'s elections-2021.
9. Objections to the entries in the voters list for the F.P.C.C.I.'s elections can be made before the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I. only by a member . In this regard, Rule 18(4) of the 2013 Rules provides that the members who have any objection to the entries in the list of voters shall send their objections in writing to the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I. within seven days of the issuance of the voters list. A "member of a trade organization" has been defined in Section 2(i) of the 2013 Act to mean a firm and includes a proprietorship , an association of persons, a partnership, a company or a multinational corporation, engaged in trade, industry or services and enrolled as a member of a trade organization licensed under the said Act. A conjoint reading of Section 2(i) of the 2013 Act with Rule 18(4) of the 2013 Rules shows that only a member of a trade organization as defined in Section 2(i) of the 2013 Act would be eligible and have a locus standi to file objections to the entries in the voters list before the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I. The petitioner is one of the partners in M/s. Firoz International which had been granted membership of Pakistan Tanners Association vide membership certificate dated 01.04.2020. It is the said partnership that could have been eligible to file objections before the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I. The petitioner as one of the partners could not, in his own right, file such objections. Additionally , the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I. ought not to entertain objections filed by persons other than those which fall within the definition of members of trade organizations. However , M/s. Firoz International could have authorized the petitioner to file objections before the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I. Where a member of a trade organization is a body corporate or a partnership or an association of persons, objection can be filed before the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I. only if such member gives an authority , in accordance with the law , to the person who submits the objection.
10. As regards appeals to the Election Commission from the decisions of the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I., or a further appeal to the D.G.T .O., Rule 18(6) and (7) of the 2013 Rules bestows a right of appeal on "any person aggrieved by the decision " of the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I. or the Election Commission, as the case may be.
The term "any person aggrieved by the decision " must be interpreted in the peculiar conte xt where it is employed.
This right of appeal cannot be given to a rank outsider or a stranger but only to a person whose rights are adversely af fected by an order of the Secretary General, F .P.C.C.I. or the Election Commission as the case may be.
11. In the case at hand, since the objections before the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I. were filed by the petitioner in his individual capacity and not by M/s. Firoz Internation, which is the member of the Pakistan Tanners Association, the objections filed by the petitioner should not have been entertained by the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I. There is nothing on the record to show that the petitioner has been authorized by the M/s. Firoz International to file the objections.
12. By objecting to the nomination of a representative of a trade organization to take part in the F.P.C.C.I.'s elections-2021, the objector , in effect questions the decision of a trade organization to nominate a particular member as its representative for the said purpose. In such proceedings it is incumbent upon the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I., the Election Commission as well as the D.G.T .O. to hear the trade organization against whose nominee objections are filed. In the event such objections are spurned in the proceedings up to the D.G.T .O., and the decision of the D.G.T .O. is assailed in a writ petition, the trade organization, against whose nominee the objections were filed, would be a necessary party in such a petition. The omission to implead such a trade organization in a writ petition would be fatal to the maintainability of such a petition . Since in the case at hand, the petitioner did not implead the P.S.M.A. as a respondent, this is an added reason why this petition should be dismissed.
13. Learned counsel for Respondent No. 4 has brought on record the list of decisions taken by the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I. on the objections filed against the nomination of members by different trade organizations.
Perusal of this list shows that the petitioner filed as many as 27 objections to the nomination of different representatives of trade Organizations. Those decisions of the Secretary General, F.P.C.C.I. whereby the objections filed by the petitioner were spurned have been subjected to challenges in appeals before the Election Commission and the D.G.T .O. as well as in writ petitions before this Court. Such litigation by the petitioner whose nomination as a representative of the Pakistan Tanners Association has been held to be invalid and his name has been excluded from the voters list, is a waste of public time.
14. In view of the above, the instant petition is dismissed with no order as to costs.