ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted Board of Directors (BoDs) of three power Distribution Companies (Discos) - Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO), Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) and Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), allegedly dominated by politically-affiliated influential people.
Ministry of Energy (Power Division) is the administrative line ministry for ten Discos. The affairs of these Companies are governed under the provisions of the Companies Act 2017 and the Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Rules, 2013 through a Board of Directors nominated by the Government of Pakistan, as per provisions of Section 165 of the Companies Act, 2017.
As per CGR, 2013, all these Boards have Independent Directors equal to at least 1/3 of its total member who meet the Fit and Proper Criteria which includes that the person should be a graduate, be a person of repute with financial integrity, not have been convicted, not have any conflict of interest nor is a political office holder and is also registered with Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG) as required under Section I 66 of Companies Act, 2017.
Official sources told Business Recorder that present Boards of Directors of IESCO, FESCO and LESCO were constituted in December, 2020 for a period of three years and consumer representatives on these BoDs were nominated in May, 202l. In pursuance of CGG 2013, a performance contract was also signed between the Power Division and Boards of Directors of IESCO, FESCO and LESCO. However, Minister for Power, after careful assessment of the performance of Discos (including IESCO, FESCO and LESCO) felt the need to reconstitute the Board of Directors to improve their performance.
PM forms body to review performance of Discos
Accordingly, Minister for Power has conducted consultative exercise to shortlist the suitable candidates who meet the Fit and Proper Criteria and are registered with PICG. The short-listed candidates fall in the category of Independent Directors including consumer representatives. Power Division, sources said, sought PM’s nod on the summary regarding reconstitution of BoDs of three Discos prior to submission it to the Federal Cabinet.
The sources said that the PM has accorded approval of proposed names of Directors of three Discos, with the direction to seek Cabinet approval through circulation.
The approved new 14-Member Board of IESCO is as follows: (i) Eng. Qamarul Islam Raja (Chairman/ Independent Director); (ii) Chaudhary Khalid Munir (Independent Director) ;(iii) Mujahid Pervaz Chattha (Independent Director); (iv) Nasir Mahmood Sheikh (Independent Director); (v) Raja Talib Mehdi Khan (Independent Director); (vi) Fahad Malik (Independent Director); (vii) Major Tahir Iqbal retired(Independent Director); (viii) Malik Ghulam Mustafa Kandwal (consumers representative/ Independent Director);(ix) Naeem Iqbal (consumers representative/ Independent Director); (x) Adnan Enver Baig (consumers representative/ Independent Director); (x) CEO IESCO(ex-officio); (xi) representative of Power Division (ex-officio); (xii) representative of Finance Division (ex-officio); and (xiii) representative of Punjab Government not below BS-19 (ex-officio).
FESCO:- The approved names of 14-member Board of FESCO is as follows: (i) Tehseen Alvi (Chairman/ Independent Director); (ii) Engr. M Babar Ikram (Independent Director); (iii) Raja Ameer Hamza (Independent Director); (iv) Iftikhar Ahmed Ansari (Independent Director); (v) Nauman Kialid (Independent Director); (vi) Muhammad Momin Junaid (Independent Director);(vii) Rab Nawaz (Independent Director);(viii) Muhammad Humair Hayat Khan (consumers representative/ Independent Director); (ix) Ali Ranjha (consumers representative/ Independent Director); (x) Mian Farrukh lqbal (consumers representative/ Independent Director); CEO FESCO (ex-officio); (xi) representative of Power Division DS/ JS/ AS (ex-officio); (xii) representative of Finance Division DS/ JS/ AS (ex-officio) and; (xiii) representative of Punjab Government not below BS-19 (ex-officio).
LESCO:- the approved names of 15 member board of LESCO are as follows:(i) Hafiz Muhammad Nouman (Independent Director); (ii) Mian Waqar Aziz (Independent Director/ Chairman); (iii) Ghias Uddin Ahmed (Independent Director); (iv) Jahanzaib Badar (Independent Director);(v) Mujahid Islam Billah (Independent Director); (vi) M A Gorava (Independent Director); (vii) Jahanzaib Badar (Independent Babar; (viii) Ahmed Baksh Tarar (Independent Director); (ix) Ch. Arshad Iqbal (consumer representative/ Independent Director;(x) Saad Rao (consumer representative/ Independent Director); (xi) Faisal Khokhar (consumer representative/ Independent Director; (xii) CEO LESCO (ex-officio);(xiii) representative of Power Division, DS/ JS/ AS(ex-officio); (xiv) representative of Finance Division, DS/ JS/ AS(ex-officio) and ;(xv) representative of Punjab Government not below BS-19 (ex-officio).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022