LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday issued notices to the federal government and others on a petition challenging the appointment of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President Arif Usman.
The court also sought arguments from petitioner’s counsel on maintainability of the petition.
Justice Jawad Hassan heard the petition filed by Naeem Ullah Afridi in the public interest.
The petitioner’s counsel argued before the court that the NBP president did not qualify educational criteria for the post.
He argued that as per rules, the president should have a master’s degree in banking or finance whereas Arif Usman possessed a bachelor’s degree in physics.
He pleaded with the court to set aside the appointment being illegal and stop the respondent from working till the final decision of the petition.
However, the court declined the request for stopping the respondent president from work and raised objection on maintainability of the petition.
The court observed that the petition was filed after one and a half years of the appointment, adding that how the court could hear the matter as the notification for the appointment was issued from Islamabad and the NBP president was posted in Karachi.
Subsequently, the court issued notices to the respondents and also sought arguments on maintainability of the petition from the petitioner’s counsel.