Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has issued its proposed amendments to the Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Rules, 2013, it order to obtain public and stakeholders feedback, according to a press release issued on Saturday. These amendments were brought forward to facilitate compliance of good corporate governance principles and largely based on the previous experiences regarding implementation of existing rules as well as feedback from several line ministries of public sector companies and other stakeholders. The public sector companies (PSCs) are highly crucial to the country’s economy because of the significant services they render in many sectors. Even though the existing legislations had been issued after seeking the governmental approval in 2013, it was now deemed necessary to update them. The rules were aimed to improve the governance of PSCs using a range of measures, which included empowerment of the board of directors, assistance to the government to exercise its ownership function and strengthening the internal control mechanism among others. The proposed provisions include the introduction of a criterion for sound and prudent management of public sector companies, adjustments in the proportion of independent directors on the boards from a majority to a minimum of one-third, specified additional grounds for removal of non-performing directors, revision of criteria for appointment of chairman and chief executive, requirement for the government to enter into performance contracts with directors at the time of their appointment, optimization of fit and proper criteria for the directors.