Separate HC bench to hear capital mkt pending cases
Sunday, 13 December 2009
M Azizur Rahman
The government has decided to pursue seriously the formation of a separate High Court bench for quick disposal of pending cases relating to the country's nascent capital market to protect shareholders' interests, officials said Saturday.
The finance ministry has already requested the law ministry to facilitate immediate formation of the bench, a long-felt demand of the capital market regulator and the bourses, a senior finance ministry official told the FE.
The ministry also asked the regulator -- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) -- to assign a designated officer to monitor the progress of the pending cases, the official said.
The market regulator says a total of 204 cases are pending with different courts in the capital as of December 2008.
Of them, the highest 94 cases are pending with the General Certificate Court, 77 with the High Court Division of the Supreme Court, nine with the 5th Joint District Judge Court, six each with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, Metropolitan Session's Judge Court and Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, two in 4th Assistant Judge Court and one each in District Judge Court, 1st Assistant Judge Court, 2nd Assistant Judge Court and Assistant Judge Court.
These cases involve settlement of billions of taka and any delay in delivering verdict is impeding growth of the concerned companies and the national economy, market players said.
"It had been the demand of the market players for long," said SEC Member Mansur Alam.
In line with the finance ministry's directive the commission has already assigned its Law Director Mahbubur Rahman Chowdhury for quick disposal of the pending cases, he added.
"This is a very good decision to protect the interests of shareholders," former adviser of the caretaker government Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam told the FE Saturday.
He, however, stressed that the proposed bench should be a full-time, permanent bench to deal with only the capital market related cases in future.
If it was constituted on a part-time basis, capital market related cases would stockpile again, said Mr Islam, also a former SEC chairman.
"We have long been demanding formation of a separate bench for settling the long-drawn capital market cases," Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) president Rakibur Rahman told the FE.
It would bring transparency and accountability to the country's flourishing stock markets, he said.
He alleged that unscrupulous businessmen have long been depriving the shareholders of due dividends by securing court injunctions on holding of annual general meetings (AGMs) or other statutory duties.
Besides, many companies are bypassing punitive measures slapped by the market regulator with court orders, he added.
Capital market investors recently staged demonstrations demanding settlement of capital market related cases involving mutual fund and United Commercial Bank (UCBL).
Though the High Court issued verdict last month after 18 months of filing writ petitions by investors, but the petitioners are afraid of a further delay in settling the dispute in the event of the SEC challenging the court verdict.
Investors filed a writ petition in July last year challenging the SEC's amendment of rule barring fund managers from issuing rights or bonus shares.
Shareholders of the UCBL are not getting any dividend for years due to non-settlement of a number of cases pending with the High Court, market insiders said.
The government has decided to pursue seriously the formation of a separate High Court bench for quick disposal of pending cases relating to the country's nascent capital market to protect shareholders' interests, officials said Saturday.
The finance ministry has already requested the law ministry to facilitate immediate formation of the bench, a long-felt demand of the capital market regulator and the bourses, a senior finance ministry official told the FE.
The ministry also asked the regulator -- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) -- to assign a designated officer to monitor the progress of the pending cases, the official said.
The market regulator says a total of 204 cases are pending with different courts in the capital as of December 2008.
Of them, the highest 94 cases are pending with the General Certificate Court, 77 with the High Court Division of the Supreme Court, nine with the 5th Joint District Judge Court, six each with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, Metropolitan Session's Judge Court and Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, two in 4th Assistant Judge Court and one each in District Judge Court, 1st Assistant Judge Court, 2nd Assistant Judge Court and Assistant Judge Court.
These cases involve settlement of billions of taka and any delay in delivering verdict is impeding growth of the concerned companies and the national economy, market players said.
"It had been the demand of the market players for long," said SEC Member Mansur Alam.
In line with the finance ministry's directive the commission has already assigned its Law Director Mahbubur Rahman Chowdhury for quick disposal of the pending cases, he added.
"This is a very good decision to protect the interests of shareholders," former adviser of the caretaker government Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam told the FE Saturday.
He, however, stressed that the proposed bench should be a full-time, permanent bench to deal with only the capital market related cases in future.
If it was constituted on a part-time basis, capital market related cases would stockpile again, said Mr Islam, also a former SEC chairman.
"We have long been demanding formation of a separate bench for settling the long-drawn capital market cases," Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) president Rakibur Rahman told the FE.
It would bring transparency and accountability to the country's flourishing stock markets, he said.
He alleged that unscrupulous businessmen have long been depriving the shareholders of due dividends by securing court injunctions on holding of annual general meetings (AGMs) or other statutory duties.
Besides, many companies are bypassing punitive measures slapped by the market regulator with court orders, he added.
Capital market investors recently staged demonstrations demanding settlement of capital market related cases involving mutual fund and United Commercial Bank (UCBL).
Though the High Court issued verdict last month after 18 months of filing writ petitions by investors, but the petitioners are afraid of a further delay in settling the dispute in the event of the SEC challenging the court verdict.
Investors filed a writ petition in July last year challenging the SEC's amendment of rule barring fund managers from issuing rights or bonus shares.
Shareholders of the UCBL are not getting any dividend for years due to non-settlement of a number of cases pending with the High Court, market insiders said.