KARACHI, Nov 15: Mr Khalid Anwer, Advocate, has taken exception to a news item headlined “Supreme Court allows CCP to proceed against KSE”, which was published in Dawn on Friday (Nov 14).

Mr Khalid Anwer contends that the news item is misleading and that the case before the Supreme Court and the terms in which it was disposed of is as follows.

Earlier, the Sindh High Court had stayed proceedings launched by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) against the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) for an alleged abuse of dominant position. Subsequently, the stay order was modified by the SHC to the extent that CCP was permitted to hear the legal issues first that were raised by the KSE as to the constitutionality of the CCP inter alia, but was restrained from passing any final order.

Thereafter, the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) filed two petitions before the Supreme Court, claiming to be aggrieved by the orders of the SHC. During the hearing before the Supreme Court, the ISE and the CCP made an offer that the CCP would be willing to give an undertaking to the effect that if the SHC stay were lifted, and an adverse order was made by the CCP against the KSE, then that order would not be enforced till the final decision of any appeal against the CCP decision to the Supreme Court.

Furthermore, no recovery of penalties would be made until the Supreme Court finally decided the matter on merit. It was on this undertaking the Supreme Court was pleased to direct that the SHC petition be listed in the High Court on Monday (Nov 17).

Mr Khalid Anwer, the counsel for KSE, submitted before the Supreme Court that since the stay order given by SHC had become unnecessary because of the undertaking given by the CCP, he would request the SHC to withdraw the same. However, the petition itself would remain pending for the adjudication of the legal questions raised therein. It was in this manner that the Supreme Court disposed of the proceedings before it.