REGULATIONS FOR SPECIAL TRIBUNAL
BSEC extends time for drafting body for 3rd time
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission for the third time has extended the timeframe for finalising the draft regulations to form a special tribunal for conducting the stock market-related cases as the committee concerned has missed the second deadline.
The BSEC sources said the assigned committee did not submit the draft rules on special tribunal as it could not finalise it.
‘That’s why the commission again has extended the timeframe till July 31 to finalise the draft and a consultant has also been appointed to assist the committee,’ he said.
The BSEC on March 6 formed a four-member committee to form a draft rules on special tribunal within April 30.
Later the commission in two phases extended the timeframe by two months.
The four-member committee headed by BSEC member Salam Shikder has three other members — executive directors Farhad Ahmed and Ruksana Chowdhury and director Mahbuber Rahman Chaudhury.
Forming a special tribunal is one of the most important conditions of the Asian Development Bank which imposed a total 28 conditions to release $300 million fund under the Capital Market Development Programme-2.
The ADB has already released $150 million as the first 13 out of the 28 conditions were fulfilled.
The release of the rest $150 million depends on how quickly the rest 15 conditions will be fulfilled. The regional development bank also set March 2013 as the deadline to implement the conditions.
ADB also said that it would release the fund early if the government fulfils the conditions before the deadline.
A meeting presided over by the finance minister AMA Muhith to make a plan to implement the conditions held on January 6 this year asked the BSEC to establish a special tribunal and regulations would be required to run the tribunal within April this year.
‘We are under the process of forming the draft regulations to set up a special tribunal. But the process is not yet completed,’ the committee head and BSEC member Salam Shikder told New Age recently.
The recent amendment to the Securities and Exchange Commission Ordinance (Amendment)-2012 has also allowed the BSEC to set up a special tribunal to deal exclusively with the share market-related cases.
The stock market scam probe committee headed by former Krishi Bank chairman Ibrahim Khaled in its report stressed reform and empowerment of the BSEC
for proper overseeing of the capital market.
According to BSEC data, the number of cases pending with civil and criminal courts was about 400 till last month, but it was only 52 as of June, 1999.
As of September 2012, the total pending cases filed by and against the SEC rose to 398.
Of the 398 cases, six are pending with the Appellate Division, 159 with the HC Division, 203 with the General Certificate Court in Dhaka, nine with the Dhaka 5th Joint District Judge Court, two with 4th Assistant Judge Court and rest of the cases with different other lower courts, the BSEC data showed.
-With New Age input
