News
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
LHC issues notice to finance secretary, NBP president* Petitioner challenges NBP president’s appointment for indefinite term
Staff Report
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday issued a notice to the finance secretary and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President Syed Ali Raza on a petition challenging the president’s appointment for an indefinite term.
The court issued the notice for June 16 on a petition moved by a former banker Umar Hayat Khawaja, who had implicated the finance secretary, the State Bank of Pakistan and the NBP as respondents in the case.
The petitioner submitted that the Finance Ministry had issued a notification on June 13, 2000, appointing Syed Ali Raza as the NBP president for a three-year term.
He said that after the expiry of the term in June 2003, Raza was reappointed as the president for a second term that again expired in 2006. He alleged that to illegally accommodate Raza for a third term, the Banks Nationalisation Act 1974 was amended by former president Pervez Musharraf on May 31, 2006. He pleaded that the ordinance had lapsed after four months of its promulgation, but the Finance Ministry, after the issuance of the Finance Act, mistakenly believed that the amendment through the ordinance had become an act. “Raza was again appointed for a fourth term for one year from July 1, 2009 to June 2010. The NBP chairman, president or any other members of the board of directors can be appointed for two terms of three years each, but there is no provision for reappointing a president for a third term by the Finance Ministry,” the petitioner argued.
Hayat submitted that Raza had also illegally assumed the post of the chairman of the board of directors even though the Finance Ministry had never issued any order on the matter. “Raza was appointed against a salary of Rs 150,000, but he himself increased his salary to Rs 600,000... he even awarded himself cash prizes in violation of the law, as only the finance secretary is authorised to award cash prizes.
He requested the court set aside the extension granted to the respondent and direct the government to fill the vacancy on merit.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk