January 4, 2003	Saturday	Shawwal 30, 1423

PESHAWAR, Jan 3: The NWFP government has restored Mr Sajid Ali Abbasi as managing director (MD) of the provincial public sector Bank of Khyber bringing to halt the process of making a new appointment for the office for which interviews had already been conducted in November last, according to sources.

The last government in the province had terminated the services of Mr. Abbasi in October last because the management of the bank could not implement certain decisions of the then provincial cabinet viz-a-viz placement of BoK on the stock exchange.

Mr. Abbasi, whose service contract for the post of MD, BoK, is to lapse in May, 2003 at the completion of three-year term, happens to be the only head of the BoK (of all the three the bank has had since its creation) in his term the provincial public sector entity could record profit.

The last provincial government started the move to appoint new MD, BoK, even before the completion of the one-month termination notice period served on Mr. Abbasi.

In this respect, interviews to five of the short-listed candidates had also been conducted in November last, for appointing new head of the provincial public sector bank.

However, the process to appoint the new MD was brought to a halt shortly after Akram Khan Durrani was nominated as a joint candidate for the office of chief minister, NWFP.

According to the sources in the banking sector, at the first instance Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani after assuming the office issued instructions to reappoint Mr. Abbasi on the same post and the State Bank had also been moved to fulfil the procedural requirement.

In a latest development, the chief minister, said the sources, recently directed to restore the services of Mr. Abbasi following which termination notice served upon him by the last provincial government was withdrawn and the official letter — seeking approval of the State Bank for the reappointment of Mr Abbasi as head of MD, BoK — was also withdrawn.

Mr. Abbasi joined the duty before Dec 25 last, after the termination notice was withdrawn and he was restored as MD, BoK.

“Once service contract is terminated, it is terminated and the official concerned could not be restored specially when the (termination) notice period has also expired,” said a legal expert who requested anonymity.

According to official sources, the situation has raised several questions as legal formalities have not been fulfilled.

“Under this situation,” said the sources, “Mr Abbasi would be reappointed and could not be restored. It is illegal,” said an official source.

The abandoning of the process of appointing new MD, BoK, by the new provincial government, apprehended the sources, tantamount to affecting the credibility of the government and the Bank, too, as “no one in future would take the Bank seriously.”