Appointment of KPEZDMC chief executive challenged in PHC

PESHAWAR: Appointment of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and members of the Board of Directors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC) were on Tuesday challenged in the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

Ali Gohar Durrani, a lawyer, filed a writ petition in the high court. He sought an order to declare the appointment of KPEZDMC CEO and members board of directors BoGs illegal and unlawful.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through Chief Secretary, KPEZDMC, Industries, Commerce and Technical Education Department, Board of Directors and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan were made parties to the petition.

The lawyer claimed in the petition that KPEZDMC is required to establish new economic zones and industrial estates as defined in the Article of Association of the company and to upgrade those existing industrial estates.

It said the provincial government has sanctioned Rs1000 million as working capital for the operations and management of KPEZDMC. The petitioner submitted that the provincial government through secretary Finance Department owns 99.9 percent shares of KPEZDMC and the remaining shares are owned by the Directors and CEO of the company.

It said that due to ownership of the KP government KPEZDMC is governed by the public sector companies. However, the petitioner claimed that till filing of the petition the KPEZDMC failed to even hold the first Annual General Meeting, failing which all actions were taken by the respondents have been without a lawful authority.

It said that the KPEZDMC has failed to comply with any provision of the Public Sector Companies Rules 2018 and has not complied with the stated objectives of the captioned law. The petitioner said that following the failure and dismissal performance of the Board of Directors the Chief Minister KP on November 10, 2017 reconstituted the BoD of the company.