Daily Times

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday reserved judgment on an intra court appeal (ICA) in a case pertaining to the appointment of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP)’s President Arif Usmani and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Zubair Sumro.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq reserved the verdict after listening arguments from respondents at large.

Arif Usmani’s lawyer pleaded before the bench that his client had an experience of 36 years in banking profession.

NBP’s lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan pleaded that State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had given approval for the appointment of Arif Usmani.

The SBP had received a total of 98 applications against this post, out of which one candidate was selected after the legal procedure.

Petitioner’s lawyer G.M Chaudhry Advocate adopted the stance that president NBP Arif Usmani had hid important information. His name was also appeared in Pandora leaks.

Chief Justice asked the lawyer to inform the court if the petitioner’s association was registered somewhere.

The lawyer said all staff of the bank was part of the said association but his client had filed the case as a common individual.

After this, the court reserved its judgment. Previously, Justice Mohsin Akhter Kayani of IHC had declared the appointment of NBP president and CEO as unlawful and ordered to remove them from their post.

The federal government had filed an ICA before the division bench against the decision.