ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday restored Khalid Mirza as member and chairman Securities and Exchange Policy Board.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah suspended the notification issued on Aug 23 by the Ministry of Finance appointing Syed Masoud Naqvi as member and the chairman Securities and Exchange Policy Board replacing Mirza.

The decision was made by the Federal Cabinet on Aug 9 to change both the chairman SECP as well as the chairman Securities and Exchange Policy Board.

Mirza through his counsel Zainab Janjua challenged the Aug 23 notification.

The counsel argued before the court that Mirza was appointed as member of the board vide notification dated Nov 16, 2018 for a fixed term of four years.

She referred to section 12(3) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SECP) Act, 1997 in support of her contention that the appointment of a member (not an ex-officio member) is made for a fixed term of four years.

She also drew attention of the court to section 18 of the SECP Act saying that once appointed a member can only be removed in a prescribed manner which has not been adopted in the case of Mirza’s replacement.

After hearing the initial arguments the court issued notice to the finance secretary and SECP and sought reply in a fortnight and adjourned further hearing till a date to be fixed by the registrar office.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2019