The High Court is unhappy with the performance of the court-appointed Board of Directors of the People’s Leasing and Financial Services Limited (PLFSL), a non-bank financial institution.
In a recent order, the court said, “The Board of Directors (BoD) has not been able to demonstrate any significant performance in functioning the company.”
The High Court bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar observed this in an order passed after accepting the resignation of Barrister Kamal Ul Alam who was earlier appointed by the court as the chairman of the company.
After deciding to revive the PLFSL instead of winding it up, the High Court on June 28 in 2021 formed a new 10-member Board of Directors for the institution where Barrister Kamal Ul Alam, a senior Supreme Court lawyer, was appointed as the chairman of the board.
The court also appointed Anwarul Islam Sikder, former secretary to the government, Hasan Shaheed Ferdous, a retired senior district and sessions judge, Abdul Halim Chowdhury, former managing director of the Pubali Bank Ltd, Brigadier General (retired) Kazi Taufiqul Islam, Noor-E Khoda Abdul Mobin, an FCA as the member of the board.
The list also included the names of Moahadul Mowla, an FCA, Dr Nashid Kamal, a representative of the depositors, Dr Nurul Kabir, chairman of the Finance department of the North South University and Mohammad Jalal Uddin, former managing director of Ansar VDP Unnayan Bank.
But Barrister Kamal Ul Alam recently resigned from the post of chairman of the Board of Directors of the PLFSL on his health ground. Later the company authorities filed an application with the High Court for the approval of the resignation.
Accepting the resignation the High Court asked the PLFSL to appoint a new chairman for the company from the existing directors at its earliest convenient. The court has also directed the newly appointed chairman, who would be elected, to submit a plan of action before this court on or before August 8 in 2022.
The court said, “This court is of view that the person who is willing to be the next chairman of the BoD must prepare a plan of action and, accordingly, the newly appointed chairman (would be elected) is directed to submit his plan of action before this court on or before August 8 in 2022.”
Barrister Mejbaur Rahman, a counsel for the company, said, “Complying with the court order, the Board of Directors in a recent meeting has already elected Hasan Shaheed Ferdous, one of the court-appointed directors of the company and also a retired senior district and sessions judge, as the chairman of the company.”
The newly elected chairman is preparing a plan of action in compliance with the court order, also said the lawyer adding that the plan would be submitted in the court after its preparation is completed.
Following a petition filed by 201 depositors of the PLFSL to revive or reconstruct the institution, the High Court bench formed the BoD.
Before passing the order the judge said that he had held an online meeting with Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor, security and exchange commission (SEC) chairman and anti-corruption commission (ACC) chairman in where BB governor opined that they had no objection if any initiative is taken to revive PLFSL.