Securities Board chairman appointment still undecided

Why the government could not appoint the chairman of the board even for 6 months? Is it because of lack of qualified, experienced candidates or any other reason? For the answer to this question, it is necessary to reach the license process of the stock exchange that is going to be brought to private sector investment. A cold war is raging among major trading houses for a new stock exchange. Under the influence of the business houses, Hamal, the former chairman of the Securities Board, changed the policy and arranged that private limited companies can also invest in the stock exchange.

This is why trading houses are in a scramble to get the license of the exchange under their belt anyway. The leaders of the main political parties also seem to be divided in this process. Since there was a big financial manipulation in the license process of the new stock exchange and part of it reached the leadership of the main party, they are in the strategy of not letting the board chairman be appointed until there is an environment to appoint their own people. This is why sources claim that the chairman could not be appointed even after 6 months.

There is a provision to form a three-member recommendation committee including the Finance Secretary and an independent expert under the coordination of the vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission for the selection of the chairman. According to the same arrangement, the government formed a chairman recommendation committee under the coordination of the vice chairman of the National Planning Commission, Meen Bahadur Shrestha. The committee also called for applications last February. 19 people applied for it. A month after the

application was received, the recommendation committee shortlisted 5 people last March. At the same time, they were also called for the presentation of the working paper. However, on the morning of the work paper submission, it was informed that the selection process has been postponed. After that, there was no talk about the process of selecting the president for about two and a half months. Meanwhile, Parliament amended the Securities Act. In the amended act, it is mentioned that when there is no chairman in the board, the joint secretary represented by the Ministry of Finance will perform the role of chairman. According to this arrangement, Narendra Rana, joint secretary of the Ministry of Finance, has acted as the chairman of the board.

Meanwhile, Krishna Bahadur Karki, Chiranjeevi Chapagain, Navraj Adhikari, Muktinath Shrestha and Santosh Narayan Shrestha, who were shortlisted by the president, were called on June 2 to present their papers. However, only Muktinath Shrestha and Santosh Narayan Shrestha were present on June 2. The remaining three were absent. There is a provision in the law that the committee should recommend three people out of the five people shortlisted for the chairmanship. As only two people were present at the presentation of the working paper, the recommendation committee faced a legal problem. For this reason, the committee has issued a notification for June 5 (Wednesday) to candidates who are absent from the paper presentation and interview on Sunday. Because the

operates on the basis of information, the regulatory body of the capital market, which is sensitive and shows the state of the economy, is without a leader for 6 months. One of the shortlisted candidates said that the board could not find a chairman because it was the intention that leaders and businessmen could make their own people as presidents, they could get different kinds of licenses, and they could make their own policies.

'We did not participate in the interview because the recommendation committee was biased towards making one person the president,' said the person, 'We want the evaluation process to be fair, and we should not go to the interview to reach the quorum while making another person the president.'

In the same way, the board has started to be criticized for having an effect on the capital management of companies due to the suspension of securities issuance permission for a long time. Stakeholders complain that not only are companies unable to issue shares at the predetermined time, but also the annual business plan has been disrupted due to the lack of permission to issue securities. After the suspension of share issuance permission, the number of companies that have applied for share issuance to the board has reached more than four dozen.

The project had to be shelved due to lack of permission to issue shares, said a chairman of the Association of Independent Energy Producers of Nepal (IPPAN). Capital must be raised at the specified time for the construction of the project. The issue of shares is also under the same plan," said the official, "if the permission for issue of shares is not given at the specified time, the operation of the entire project will be affected. That is what has happened now, if the money does not come on time, the bank also raises questions. Even if the new chairman does not come, he has suggested that the license work should be continued through the acting chairman. According to the

board, more than four dozen companies from different sectors have applied to Sebon for the issue of securities. However, no company has received permission to issue securities since the last 6 months.