ISLAMABAD - A parliamentary committee on Tuesday expressed its grave concern on the promotions made by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).
The National Assembly’s standing committee on finance and revenue has unanimously recommended that NBP should revisit the promotions made by the promotion committee under the current policy. The Committee meeting, which was held under the chairmanship of Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh, was of the firm opinion that said promotion policy was against the ruling of the apex court and it will create injustice among the employees of the NBP.
The Committee recommended that the matter should be forwarded to Ministry of Law and Justice whether National Bank of Pakistan can revise its promotion policy while the ruling of the apex court was there in similar case. The President and Legal Advisor of NBP informed that said judgment was not related to the current promotion policy and NBP Board was fully empowered to frame its policies. He further informed that SSR does not fall in the purview of the said policy.
The President NBP informed the Committee that NBP has prepared promotion policy based on promotion assessment scoring system for different categories. He said that promotion interviews were conducted for those employees who met the minimum eligibility criteria for promotion.
The Committee has shown its displeasure on the interview score i.e. 50% of total number of 100 marks which was on the discretionary powers of the NBP promotion Committee. The Committee further recommended that NBP will furnish the breakup details (i.e ACRs marks and Interview marks etc.) of individuals, who were promoted according to this policy. The President NBP informed that 50% interview marks were only for 236, senior officers who were promoted from VP to SVP and SVP to EVP. The Committee discussed that State Bank of Pakistan may be recommended to review the promotion criteria implemented by NBP management for 236 senior officers of NBP.
The Secretary, Economic Affairs Division (EAD) briefed the Committee about the role of EAD. However, due to short of time the Committee decided that an exclusive meeting should be convened on the foreign loaning and aids etc. An in-camera briefing was convened regarding to discuss the current devaluation of Pakistan’s rupee against dollar/other currencies and preventing measures taken by the government. Governor State Bank of Pakistan briefed the Committee in this regard.
The Committee unanimously recommended that “The State Bank of Pakistan Banking Services Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2017” and “The Loans for Agriculture Commercial and Industrial Purposes (Amendment) Bill, 2017” may be passed by the National Assembly.
The meeting was attended by Saeed Ahmed Khan Manais, Rana Shamim Ahmed Khan, Isphanyar M Bhandara, Dr Shezra Mansab Ali Khan Kharral, Sheikh Fayyaz-ud-Din, Dr Nafisa Shah, Syed Mustafa Mehmud, Asad Umar and Abdul Rashid Godil, MNAs, besides the senior officers from Ministry of Finance & Revenue, EAD, SECP, FBR, SBP, NBP and Ministry of Law & Justice.