LHC reinstates SNGPL MD

The Lahore High Court on Tuesday reinstated Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited''s Managing Director Arif Hameed to his post and sought a response from the company by September 17. Arif Hameed had challenged his termination through Uzair Karamat Bhandari who argued that the petitioner was an engineer and joined the gas company in 1978. He said the company''s Board of Directors had appointed the petitioner on October 19, 2011 and his term was extended from time to time by the board.
The federal government on January 25 this year had appointed the petitioner as the managing director following a board recommendation but, he said, the board through a notification terminated his services and the acting charge of his post was given to the company''s chief financial officer. He also argued that the impugned notification was mala fide and had been issued arbitrarily and that the MD/CEO could only be removed by the board through a resolution passed by 3/4th of the directors or by as many as of the shareholders through a special resolution. He denied that the board had passed such a resolution.