Kathmandu, November 18

The fate of the board of directors of Himalayan Bank Ltd (HBL) is likely to be decided on Friday, as the Patan High Court has summoned the defendants to the court that day.

A single bench of Patan High Court Judge Shekhar Paudel has ordered the board of the bank not to take any decision till the next hearing that has been called on November 24.

The dispute related to appointment to the board of directors entered Patan High Court as one of the largest promoter shareholders, Mutual Trading Company, filed a case against Chairman of the board Manoj Bahadur Shrestha, CEO Ashoke Shumsher Rana and Company Secretary Bipin Hada seeking an interim order from the court against the decision of appointing board of directors.

Since the Banks and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA) came into enforcement, banks and financial institutions need to bring down the board members from up to seven to five. The dispute came to light as Mutual Trading Company, promoted by one of the prominent corporate giants — Khetan Group — was excluded from the board despite having 11.85 per cent stake in promoter share.

However, current Chairman Shrestha and his brother Prachanda Bahadur Shrestha are both representing in the board as their companies holds 11.38 and 8.89 per cent of promoter share, respectively.

Sources from Khetan Group, privy to the development, said that they had advised the bank to appoint one from the Shrestha family — either Manoj or Prachanda. However, the company secretary had written to Mutual Trading that the board of directors meeting has decided against appointing the director recommended by the company and promoted by Khetan citing the content of NRB circular to bring down the number of board members.

Manoj Bahadur Shrestha, chairman of the bank, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts by The Himalayan Times.

As per BAFIA, the chairman and CEO cannot hold their position for more than two terms of four years each. Manoj Bahadur Shrestha has been serving as the chairman of the bank since last 12 years. BAFIA has brought the provision of two terms for chairman and CEO to ensure strong governance in the BFIs.

An official from Mutual Trading said they have also written to Office of the Company Registrar and Securities Board of Nepal to instruct the bank to call for a special general meeting to resolve the issue of appointment of board of directors. The letter, however, has not generated any response from either of the government agencies.

In the meantime, officials from Nepal Rastra Bank — the central regulatory and monetary authority — said that the central bank is aware about the dispute at Himalayan Bank but they are not taking any steps just yet as the case is subjudice.

Who holds how much stake at HBL?

Habib Bank

20%

Employees Provident Fund

14%

N Trading

12.71%

Mutual Trading

11.85%

Ava International

11.38%

Chhaya International

8.89%

Sashikant Agrawal

2.65%