The High Court (HC) has stayed a decision of taking nomination fee from the candidates interested to contest the election of shareholder director of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
The stay order came Tuesday following a writ petition filed by a shareholder, SM Shahudul Haque Bulbul.
The election for the post of a shareholder-director of the DSE is set to be held on March 20, as one director will retire this year in line with the demutualisation scheme.
This year, shareholder-director Md Shakil Rizvi will retire from the DSE board, according to the DSE.
The writ petition mentioned that an aspirant candidate is required to collect the nomination paper with a fee of Tk 0.1 million.
But there is no provision regarding nomination fee in the DSE's election regulation, articles of association, memorandum of association, and the companies act, said petitioner Mr. Bulbul.
Before filing the writ petition, he said, he had drawn the attention of the securities regulator and the stock exchange to take action against the unlawful decision of taking fee for nomination paper from the aspirant candidates.
"Without finding solution, I filed the writ petition against the decision of taking fee and the court stayed the decision," Mr Bulbul said.
He also said the election commission has no bar in conducting election as per the schedule set earlier.
This year's newly elected director is supposed to join the 13-member board at the bourse's annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled to be held on March 22.
The demutualisation scheme was approved by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) in 2013.
As per the demutualisation scheme, out of the 13-member board of the bourse, seven will be independent directors, four shareholder-directors, one from strategic investors' category and the bourse's managing director.
However, the post of strategic director still remains vacant as the bourse is yet to select anyone from the strategic investors.
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