IHC seeks SBP's reply on appointment of NBP president, chairman

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday served notices to respondents including State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on a petition challenging the appointment of President National Bank of Pakistan Arif Usmani and chairman board of directors Zubair Soomro.

Justice Mohsin Akhter Kiyani of IHC heard the petition filed by citizens Syed Jahangir, Javed Iqbal, Fazal Raheem and Latif Qureshi.

Arif Usmani’s counsel Ahmed Bilal Sufi pleaded that the NBP had earned good profit under stewardship of current president. Justice Kiyani remarked that then any property tycoon should have been appointed as president if the motive was just to earn profit. The court remarked that if the degree had no connection with appointment then a judge could also be appointed as bank head.

Petitioners’ lawyer G.M Chaudhry Advocate argued that then there were also other people who had toped in physics, adding that this had also violated their rights as they were also entitled to give application for the post in the same way.

Counsel of NBP’s Board Chairman Faisal Ghani Advocate pleaded that these petitions had been filed on basis of dishonesty as the petitioners were not affected party of this.

Another Petitioner’s lawyer Iftikhar Hussain Naqvi argued that it was not necessary for the petitioner to be an affected party to file a case. The transparency international had pointed out corruption in NBP and its branches in abroad were being closed.

The court observed that whether the SBP didn’t notice the physics degree of candidate and how his name was included in panel. The court summoned a representative of SBP on June 2, to give answer regarding the matter.

The bench observed that it was necessary to issue advertisement for appointment board chairman under the law. After this, the court adjourned hearing of the case till next date.