KARACHI, Feb 14: A meeting of the board of directors of Karachi Stock Exchange is scheduled to be held on Thursday, where an unspecified item on the agenda is understood to be the debate on removal of the KSE Managing Director, M.A. Lodhi.

A case has been built up mainly by the nominated directors with the tacit approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to replace the sitting MD, sources say.

The SECP cannot by-pass the KSE board in removal of the MD. And the board can dismiss the bourse’s chief executive (MD) through a majority vote of three-fourths of the directors present at the meeting.

The nominated directors on the board would decidedly vote in a single direction (for or against), but it is yet unclear if the five member directors would want to see another person in the place of the current MD. Or if there would be a division of votes.

Mr Lodhi was appointed KSE MD on January, 1 2006 for a three-year term. Those who favour his dismissal blame him for his ineffectiveness and inefficiency. But members who are siding with Mr Lodhi cite some of the reforms that the excessively quiet MD has brought about in the bourse. Surreptitious happenings at the KSE in the last few weeks have already raised eyebrows.

The non-member chairman has been allotted office in the bourse’s administration block with some of the perks such as honorarium and a few amenities. The SECP had itself placed prohibition on setting up a chairman’s office in the bourse a couple of years ago.

Does the reinstatement of chairman’s chair spell the end of Mr Lodhi era or was it done to supplement and compliment the work of the MD? It would be clear from the outcome of the resolution likely to be moved at the board’s meeting on Thursday.