ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved new Board of Directors (BoD) of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) to be headed by Shahab Rizvi, well-informed sources in the Petroleum Division told Business Recorder.
Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) is a non-funded Public Listed Company established to undertake oil and gas exploration activities/projects in the country and abroad, and was incorporated under the Companies Act, 2017, which provides that the Federal Government may constitute a Board of Directors to control, manage and direct the affairs of the company.
According to the pattern of shareholding, the government holds
74.86 percent of the paid-up capital of the company. The BoD of PPL is comprised of eleven Directors, including the Managing Director (MD).
In pursuance of the incumbent government's policy of appointment and empowerment of non-political and autonomous Boards, the BoDs of PPL was reconstituted on June 3, 2019 for its remaining statutory period. The tenure of the BoDs of PPL expired on August 30, 2020, whereas the Extraordinary General Meeting for the election of Directors is scheduled to be held on September 16, 2020.
In view of the expiry of term of PPL's Board, Petroleum Division has proposed the composition of the BoDs of PPL, keeping in view the prescribed guidelines, rules and regulations and Corporate Governance criteria: Shahab Rizvi- Director/possible chair (Sindh), Imtiaz A H Laliwala - Director (Sindh), Aftab Ahmad - Director (Punjab), Abid Sattar - Director(Punjab), Mian Imtiazuddin -Director (KP), Secretary Energy, Balochistan (representative), Additional Secretary (Admin), Petroleum Division/representative (Director), Joint Secretary (A/CA), Petroleum Division (Director) and representative Finance Division (Director).
The Petroleum Division submitted a summary to the Prime Minister for the nomination of the proposed Directors on the Board of PPL, who has approved it. The approved Directors will contest the upcoming elections of the Board of PPL, on behalf of the GoP in the light of the Supreme Court judgment of August 18, 2016.
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) had drawn attention to the Prime Minister Office's letter of September 06, 2017 to this Division, which states, "All Ministries /Divisions and other departments should neither directly call for low downs, nor the agencies should provide them directly to the departments. In future all such requests should be routed through Prime Minister's Office." Therefore, the low downs of the above mentioned candidates may directly be obtained by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) from the security agencies.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020