ISLAMABAD, Nov 26: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has announced the establishment of the Corporate Laws Review Commission (CLRC) under the leadership of Justice (retd) Ajmal Mian, former chief justice of Pakistan.

“The primary objective of the CLRC would be to assess the adequacy of the Companies Ordinance, 1984 (Companies Ordinance) for the sustained development of a liberal, deregulated, efficient and cost effective corporate sector,” stated an official announcement here on Saturday.

The commission will examine objectives, structure and content of the Companies Ordinance and develop a conceptual framework for a balanced growth of the corporate sector in harmonization with emerging market norms and international best practices.

Based on this analysis, the CLRC will amend or redraft the law, as it may deem necessary. “In the last 21 years since the Companies Ordinance came into force, Pakistani economy, particularly the corporate sector, has witnessed considerable growth and expansion,” the announcement claimed.

It said two significant developments in this regard were the inclusion of non-banking finance companies within the regulatory framework of the Companies Ordinance and the introduction of single-member companies.

Although the Companies Ordinance has been amended from time to time to cater for these developments, this will be the first effort to examine it as a whole, the announcement stated.

The CLRC will hold its meetings in all major cities of the country and will also invite comments from the public, particularly from stakeholders, in order to arrive at a law which best addresses indigenous conditions. The commission has proposed to complete this exercise by June 30, 2006 and prepare a draft bill to be presented to the parliament.

The CLRC is an independent body of eminent members of legal, accountancy and business community from all provinces and the government.

“Razzak Dawood, Musharraf Hai, Sohail Hassan, Dr Tariq Hassan, Tehseen Iqbal, Sikander Jamali, Qazi Jamil, Hafeez Pirzada, Senator Khalid Ranjha and Abdul Hameed Chaudhry have consented to give their valuable time to this exercise,” the announcement added.