A cold war is on between the bureaucracy and brokers over the appointment of the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), a notification for which is expected any time after the return of Finance Advisor Dr Shahid Amjad and Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood from Washington.
According to media reports, the Finance Ministry has sent the name of SECP Senior Commissioner Tahir Mehmood for the post to the PM’s Secretariat. On the other hand, the Establishment Division has sent the names of Shahzeb Ali and Khalid Mirza. Finance Ministry sources say that the prime minister has approved the name of Tahir Mehmood for the post on the basis of his seniority while the influential brokers of Karachi Stock Exchange have managed to put the notification on hold in a bid to get a man of their choice in the office.
Mohammad Ali was removed from the office of the SECP chairman on SC orders on April 12. He was a man of the brokers, who wanted him to make decisions of their choice. He has been an employee of a broker house. The brokers want to replace him with another man of their choice but bureaucrats and the ministry officials are stopping their way.
The sources said that in the light of the SC order, the Finance Ministry had sent a summary to the PM suggesting that Tahir Mehmood be made acting chairman of the SECP and the PM had returned the summary after approval to the ministry last week but some people are trying to block issuance of a notification to this effect.
Shahzeb Ali, whose name is under consideration for the job, is associated with Pakistan Resident Mission of Asian Development Bank and has an experience of 21 years in the field of finance.
Khalid Mirza’s name is also under consideration. He has been chairman of the Competition Commission of Pakistan. His opponents object that his age is 62 but it could not be a hindrance since judges can work till 65 years of age and the finance advisor is over 70.
