सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Kathmandu. The government and the opposition are at loggerheads over the licensing of the new stock exchange. The main opposition party, the CPN-Maoist Center, and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda raised questions about the licensing process of the new stock exchange in the parliament meeting on Thursday.
Former Finance Minister and Maoist Center leader Barshaman Pun also raised the issue of the licensing process of the new stock exchange in the parliament on Thursday. Both Prachanda and Pun had said that the licensing process of the new stock exchange was moving forward on the plan of the interest group.
Prachanda accused the interest group of having its eyes on the Securities and Exchange Board of Nepal and trying to obtain a license for the new stock exchange by making a directive that is not in the law. Prachanda also demanded that the licensing process of the new stock exchange be stopped immediately. Dahal had taken a decision from the Council of Ministers on 26 Baisakh 2080 to stop the process of licensing the new stock and asked for further study. Prachanda had also claimed that the billion-trillion-rupee setting of the capital market had been destroyed on the same day.
Similarly, former Finance Minister Barshaman Pun also accused the government of colluding with vested interests to grant the license of the new stock exchange. He also stressed that the licensing process of the new stock exchange should be carried out in an open and transparent manner.
Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel responded to former Prime Minister Prachanda and former Finance Minister Barshaman Pun from the rostrum. Finance Minister Poudel said that Prachanda and Barshaman Pun had initiated the process of appointing the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of Nepal. He said that since Prachanda and Barshaman Pun started the licensing process for the new stock exchange, they should answer all the questions.
A case has been filed in the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court alleging that the process of granting licenses for the new stock exchange is not in accordance with the law. Law student Krishna Bahadur Thapa filed the case on Poush 23, alleging that there was a legal error in distributing the new stock license. The next hearing of the case, registered with registration number 081-wc-0035, has been scheduled for Falgun 21.
The first hearing was scheduled for Magh 9, but the hearing could not be held due to lack of time. Now, the writ petition is being heard on Falgun 21 in a bench led by Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut of the Supreme Court. The constitutional bench headed by the Chief Justice is headed by the senior-most judges Sapana Pradhan Malla, Kumar Regmi, Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma and Dr. Kumar Chudal.
The writ petition states that the Securities and Exchange Board of Nepal (SEB) has misinterpreted Section 118 of the Securities and Exchange Act, 2063 and is trying to establish a corporate body to operate the securities market. The hearing of this case has been fixed for Falgun 21.
The writ claims that the board has issued the ‘Directive on Providing Recommendations by the Board to Establish a Corporate Body to Operate the Securities Market, 2079’, using its power not provided by law. The directive is in conflict with Section 118 of the Securities Act, 2063, and therefore, the directive on providing recommendations from the board to establish a corporate body for the operation of the securities market, 2079, has been demanded to be canceled.
On 1 Poush 2081, activist Rajan Sharma Parajuli, on behalf of the Youth Campaign Against Corruption, has filed a complaint with the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, alleging policy-level corruption in the license of the new stock. The complaint number with the Authority is c-035384/2081/09. The complainant Sharma has claimed that he has presented the basis and some facts as to how a commission of five billion rupees is being played in the license case of the new stock exchange.
Illegal process of new stock exchange license should be stopped: Prachanda
Now the eyes of the middlemen have gone to the Securities and Exchange Board of Nepal. The government is preparing to issue a new stock exchange license by preparing a guideline that is not envisaged by the Act itself, a guideline that is not envisaged by the law itself. It has moved forward on the wrong path. I want to tell you from this rostrum. Like the remote control frequency, the state should create an environment where the new stock exchange license is also considered its property. If it has to be issued, it should be issued through open competition, not through commission. I want to say emphatically that the current illegal process should be stopped.
Why are you hesitating to give licenses to vested interests? Barshaman Pun
I am seeing the Honorable Finance Minister. Matters have come from the Securities and Exchange Board of Nepal to restructure the Nepal Stock Exchange. But the restructuring is not happening. It seems that they are hesitating to give licenses to new stock exchanges. The interests of vested interests are seen in this. The people know. The Nepal Stock Exchange should be restructured and made sustainable. And when the day comes, arrangements should be made to go through competition. The people are vigilant about this.
Prachanda-Barshaman should answer all questions: Finance Minister Poudel
I have heard a lot of discussion regarding the Securities and Exchange Board of Nepal. Former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and former Finance Minister Barshaman Pun are discussing this issue. I want to ask them. I want to ask questions. Why did the process have to be started? Why did it have to be stopped in the middle? No need to answer this? What I have done is that I have only completed the process that took place yesterday.
He published the notice. He invited the candidates. He proceeded with the selection process. While moving the process forward, which character did he not like? He said that the person was not included. Then he stopped it in the middle. Then the process he started, the process he stopped was only moved forward by me. It was only after the court said not to stop the process, but to move it forward.
Therefore, he started in the middle and he stopped it. Under whose influence did he stop it? Can’t this be questioned?
It would be wrong to move that process forward, Mr. Speaker.
Similarly, the new stock exchange also has to move the process forward. The selection process has to move forward. The companies that have been selected have come forward. Why did they come to that level? Why did he have to stop in the middle? Whose needs had to be stopped? In the context of the Securities and Exchange Board of Nepal, the law works in a regular manner. Yesterday, they formed a study group from the Council of Ministers. The study committee has given a report. We have initiated the process to implement that report. There is no need to make any ‘high sound’ in the context of the Securities and Exchange Board of Nepal.
What will Dr. Yuvraj Khatiwada, who says, “The new stock exchange is a prepaid license,” do now?
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