The emergency meeting may decide to hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to take the decision whether the clause will be incorporated in the MAA.

"An emergency board meeting of the FBCCI will discuss the issue on Saturday. We have to convene an EGM to take a decision on the government order," President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Abdul Awal Mintoo told The Daily Star yesterday.

According to sources, a section of business leaders have reservations about the government order as it came from a joint secretary of the commerce ministry instead of the Director Trade Organisation (DTO).

A political aide to the prime minister is behind the government move and another section of business leaders including a top loan defaulter is also pursuing the issue, sources said.

The initiative came immediately after the FBCCI president came up with a set of proposals to reform key areas including politics.

High officials of the commerce, home and law ministries have been asked to look into the existing rules of removing the president or vice-president of the FBCCI. If the existing rules do not allow the removal, new rules will be formulated, sources said.

The commerce ministry on May 17 sent a letter to the FBCCI president, asking him to take measures to incorporate a clause in Article 14 of its MAA that would enable the members of its board to remove the president or the vice-president if their conducts are deemed as detrimental to the interest of the federation.

The ministry in its order said the provision for removal of the president or vice-president needed to be included in the MAA in public interest.

The new clause, as suggested by the ministry, is: "The president or a vice-president may be removed at any time from their office through resolution duly adopted by a majority of members of the board of directors, on grounds that their activity or conduct are detrimental to the interest of the federation."

The resolution for removal under the new clause will not be effective unless it is approved by the government, the order said, asking the FBCCI president to implement the order in four weeks.

FBCCI President Abdul Awal Mintoo at a press conference on April 26 came up with a set of proposals to reform key areas of governance.

The proposals called for increasing the power of the president, downsizing the ministries to 20, strengthening the Supreme Judicial Council, creating two posts of deputy speaker -- one each from the treasury and opposition benches -- and constituting citizens' committees to cut corruption of police.

A section of business leaders expressed deep concern in the wake of the government order.

The move as an unwarranted intervention in the independence of the FBCCI, they said.