ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance has directed the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to furnish details of four most senior officials from the bank for the position of acting president.
Sources said that the Ministry of Finance will likely give the acting charge to one senior official of NBP on Thursday as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has directed the federal government to remove incumbent President Arif Usmani as well as Chairman Board Zubair Soomro from the positions in an illegal appointment case.
Presently, SEVP Naheed Sultana, Abdul Wahid Serhi, Jamal Baqir and Rehman Hassni are the most senior officials.
Naheed Sultana is the only permanent employee of the bank while the other three have been appointed on contractual basis.
Interestingly, Sultana Naheed retired on January 18, 2021; however, her services were extended till July 18, 2021. Some officials of NBP think that Sultana Naheed has become junior most as she has been re-hired on contract.
As per the rules, the competent authority can re-employ any employee after the date of retirement for a period not exceeding one year at any one time.
On the other hand, seniority is also determined from the date of last promotion, for which Sultana Naheed is the senior most.
Previously, Masood Kareem Sheikh was appointed as acting president after Iqbal Ashraf resigned. Masood was on a three year renewable contract and of 62 years of age but was appointed as acting president being the senior most.
Meanwhile, Rehmut Hasni, who was promoted as SEVP on October 16, 2017, is also on a three year renewable contract.
Sources said that Arif Usmani was on leave and soon after the decision, he reached Karachi from Islamabad.
It is worth mentioning here that former employees of the bank including Syed Jahangir, Javed Iqbal, Fazal Raheem and Latif Quershi had challenged the appointments of Usmani and Soomro.
