PESHAWAR, Feb 29: A Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday stopped the government from privatising its Bank of Khyber by issuing a stay order.

In the order, the bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth said the reported privatisation proceedings and all steps taken towards that end, including issuance of public notice in the media, should not be acted upon by the government and that all proceedings in this respect should remain suspended.

The chief justice had taken suo motu notice of the matter on an application sent to him by Bank of Khyber Officers Association president Haider Ali wherein he had drawn the court’s attention towards appearance of a public notice about BoK in newspapers on February 5, 2012. The notice said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was in advance stage of evaluating options for transfer of BoK management to private sector and has sought all necessary internal approvals for it besides its ‘in principle’ approval from the State Bank of Pakistan.

Barrister Baachaa, who appeared for the petitioner, said in the guise of the change of the management, the government was going to privatise the bank though it was a profit earning entity. He further said the bank’s privatisation was beyond his comprehension.

The court put on notice the provincial government, board of governors and management of the bank and fixed the next hearing for April 17. it accepted the plea of the petitioner for interim relief by suspending action on the impugned public notice.

Hazik Ali Shah, lawyer for the bank, requested the court not to stay the proceedings until he filed the reply. He said he had received the notice only a day ago and might be given some time for clarifying the situation. The court observed that he would be heard in detail on the next hearing.

Mr Baachaa said BoK right from its establishment was fast growing financial institution in the province having profit making branches across the country and that its assets and capital had increased manifold over the last many years. Similarly, he further said the number of its branches and outlets also increased manifold.

The lawyer said the intended/proposed privatisation of the bank through entrapped methodology was to gift it to someone but at the cost of economy and financial growth of the province and hundreds of its employees. He asked when the financial health of BoK had reached to its peak due to constant growth in its capital and assets what prompted the Board of Governors to take such drastic step as profitable institutions of this nature had never been privatised in the world.

Barrister Baachaa alleged that the entire exercise was result of ‘under-the-table bargain’ and based on mala fide. He claimed that even in the advertisement, there was misstatement that the State bank of Pakistan had given approval for the transfer of management. He added that last year the bank had earned profit of around Rs1.2 billion.

The court inquired whether the managing director belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or was imported from other area. The counsel replied that the MD was not from the province, prompting the chief justice to express astonishment that when competent bankers were available here then why the government had to import managing director. The court asked Mr Baachaa about the whole conspiracy behind the scheme and who would benefit from it. The lawyer replied that apparently, one of the parties was already having 19.5 percent shares and with the purchasing of only seven percent he would qualify to get the management as according to the said public notice the management could be transferred to investor having minimum 28 percent of the shareholding of the bank.