IHC orders the replacement of NBP President Arif Usmani

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday ordered the government to remove the President of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Arif Usmani (Arif Usmani) and the Bank Chairman (BoD) Zubair Soomro (Zubair Soomro).

The judgment calls on the authorities to immediately remove Usmani and Soomro from their posts.

The High Court retained its judgment on the petition filed against the President of NBP on June 2.

The petition submitted by citizens Syed Jahangir, Javed Iqbal, Fazal Raheem and Latif Qureshi argued that the appointment of the President of NBP violated the guidelines of the 2015 Public Sector (appointment of chief executive) guidelines.

The petitioner argued that Usmani did not have a degree in banking or finance, on the contrary, he had a degree in physics. The petitioner argued that this disqualified him for the post of chief executive officer of NBP.

Usmani’s lawyers told the High Court in a previous hearing that during his client’s tenure as the bank’s president, NBP had made considerable profits.

The court stated that if the degree has nothing to do with a certain field, then the judge can also be appointed as the head of the bank.

On the other hand, Soomro’s lawyers argued that the petition was submitted with malicious intent, adding that the petitioner was not affected by the appointment.