Recommendation to cancel the process if three people cannot be recommended for the board chairman

Earlier, the Chairman Selection Recommendation Committee gave three options and asked for legal opinion. Responding to that, on Tuesday, the Attorney General's Office suggested that three people be sent and if that is not possible, the Ministry of Finance sources said that the process should be cancelled.

"In the Attorney General's letter, the recommendation committee has given an opinion that the recommendation committee can decide whether to recommend three of the five people on the 'short list' or to cancel the entire process and start anew," the source said, "but even if it is said out of the five It is difficult how to recommend those who are absent in the work plan presentation and interview.'

According to the provisions of the Securities Act, the chairman selection recommendation committee formed under the coordination of the vice chairman of the National Planning Commission, Meen Bahadur Shrestha, on this June 2, called the five people who were shortlisted for the work plan presentation and interview. Only two people, Santosh Narayan Shrestha and Muktinath Shrestha, were present that day. The remaining three absentees Krishna Bahadur Karki, Navraj Adhikari and Chiranjeevi Chapagain were called last Wednesday (June 5). Even after that, the process of appointing the chairman of the board has become more confused after the remaining three contestants did not attend the presentation of the work papers and the interview. This is why the recommendation committee asked for a legal opinion from the Attorney General's Office.

In Subsection 4 of Section 7 of the Securities Act, 2063, there is a provision that the recommendation committee must recommend the names of at least three persons from among the qualified candidates. Although there is no clear provision in the Act regarding the evaluation process of candidates, there is a provision that the recommendation committee shall determine its own procedure and recommend three candidates accordingly. "When recommending a name, the committee will recommend the names of at least three persons who are qualified according to this act," the Securities Act says, "The committee will determine its own procedure when recommending the name of the chairman." According to the provisions of the

act, the recommendation committee has also created a procedure. 48 points have been allotted in the action plan presentation and interview in the procedure named as 'Recommendation procedure for appointment to the post of Chairman of Nepal Securities Board, 2080'. There are 52 marks in Professional Action Plan and Educational Qualification. In this way, the committee is confused about how to recommend the person who is absent in the action plan presentation and interview, where almost half of the total marks are allocated.

"After determining the sum of the marks obtained for the educational qualification of the applicants and the marks obtained for the professional action plan submitted, as far as possible, a short list of five candidates will be prepared and selected for the presentation of the professional action plan and the interview," the procedure states, "Presentation of the professional action plan And the names of the three candidates who have obtained the highest score for the interview, the score for the submitted professional action plan, the average score for the presentation of the professional action plan and the average score for the interview will be recommended in alphabetical order Sources said that it is difficult for the committee to proceed with the process in the current situation as there is a clear provision that three people should be recommended.

Nepal Securities Board, the regulatory body of the capital market, which is considered as the main indicator of the economy, has been without a leader for the last 6 months. The government has not yet been able to appoint a chairman to the post, which became vacant after the term of the outgoing chairman Ramesh Kumar Hamal ended on December 20.

Since last year, due to the absence of a president, the permission process of primary issue (IPO), additional issue process (FPO), bonds, rights and other securities has been stopped.

After all, why could the government not appoint a board chairman even for 6 months? Is it because of lack of qualified, experienced candidates or any other reason? For the answer to this question, one has to go to the license process of the stock exchange that is going to bring in private sector investment. A major 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 the reason why business houses are in a scramble to get the license of the exchange under their belt. Leaders of main parties including UML, Congress, Maoists are also colluding in this process.

There is a big financial manipulation in the licensing process of the new stock exchange and part of it has reached the leadership of the main party, so 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 the reason why the chairman could not be appointed even for 6 months. "The delay in the appointment of the chairman of the board is also linked to the age of the coalition government," said the source, "therefore, the ruling party's main party, the UML and the Maoists, have not backed down from their stand." The recommendation committee has been convened amid the conflict between those parties.' According to

sources, the remaining three people were absent from the work plan presentation and interview after the pressure came from the leadership of the big party to make a certain person as the president. "In any case, the process of appointing the president has become a hostage because the ruling party insists that they will not make their own person as the president," the source said.

There is a provision to form a three-member recommendation committee with 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 had formed a chairman recommendation committee under the coordination of the vice chairman of the National Planning Commission, Shrestha. The

committee also called for applications last February, in which 19 people applied. A month after receiving the application, the recommendation committee shortlisted 5 people last March. At that time they were also called for the presentation of the work paper. But on the morning of the presentation of the work paper, 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 on the board, the joint secretary representing the Ministry of Finance will play 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. Since the regulatory body of the capital market, which is sensitive and shows the state of the economy because it operates on the basis of

information, no one is worried about the stock market with more than six million investors.

One of the applicants in the short list said that the board could not find a chairman because they were able to make their own people as presidents, they could have obtained different types of licenses, and they could have made their own policies. Similarly, the board has started to be criticized as it has affected the capital management of companies due to the suspension of permission to issue securities for a long time.