ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet appointed Mehmood Mandviwalla as the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s (SECP) policy board on Tuesday after a gap of six months, paving the way for the approval of the commission’s budget for the year 2021-22.

Barrister Mandviwalla is a corporate lawyer by profession and served as Sindh’s caretaker law minister in 2013. The federal cabinet has also approved the resignation of former SECP policy board’s chairman Syed Masoud Naqvi, who was appointed in May 2020 to head the board. He tendered his resignation on June 23 for personal reasons.

Outgoing head resigned on June 23 for personal reasons

Since the policy board was operating without a chairman since then, SECP’s annual budget for the ongoing fiscal year could not be approved. As a result, all of SECP’s finances and expenditures were being managed on an ad hoc basis. The SECP policy board consists of a maximum of 11 people, including five ex officio and six private-sector members. Prior to Mr Naqvi, Prof Khalid Mirza was appointed as the first private-sector expert to head SECP’s policy board in November 2018. Before that, the position was traditionally held by the finance secretary.

However, the cabinet reversed Prof Mirza’s appointment on Aug 9, 2019 — a decision challenged by him in the Islamabad High Court. However, he later resigned in May 2020. Meanwhile, the SECP only has two commissioners at present, including its chairman, Amir Khan, and Sadia Khan. However, at least three commissioners are required to establish tribunals for hearing appeals against any decision made by a commission’s department.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2021