Drabu relieved, Pandey takes over as interim Chairman

Eminent banker, one among Directors, Soz’s son eying top slot in J&K Bank

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Aug 27: Minutes after Haseeb Drabu was relieved from the prestigious position, Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, today took over as interim Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd. Those eying the top slot now include a high-profile banker, one of the Directors on Board besides Gulf-based son of Jammu & Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee President, Prof Saif-ud-din Soz.

Former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patriarch Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s discovery, Haseeb Drabu, today submitted his resignation as Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd, a day after Omar Abdullah-led government communicated to him that he was no more needed in the bank. On Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s directions, Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, had called on Drabu yesterday and sought his resignation. Pandey, according to sources, had made it clear to Drabu that the state government would get him dismissed by way of a no-confidence resolution in an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Directors (BOD) if he failed to put in his papers within 24 hours.

Sources in the bank said that Drabu today tendered his resignation to BOD which was later accepted in a specially convened meeting at the Corporate Headquarters. Thereafter, BOD unanimously passed the resolution of the appointment of Mr Sudhanshu Pandey, Commissioner-Secretary Finance with J&K Government and a Director on Board, as interim Chairman of the bank. As required under rules, the resolution thus passed was lastly submitted for approval to Reserve Bank of India. With this, Pandey took over as interim Chairman.

BOD also decided to constitute a search committee in its next scheduled meeting here on August 30th for the purpose of making and submitting a panel of three names for the post of Chairman and Chief Executive of the bank to RBI. After assessing merits and qualifications of the incumbents, RBI as the competent authority can pick up the Chairman from the list or reject it.

While two of the Directors on Board, namely Rakesh Kumar Gupta and Nihal Garware were absent, all the eight others participated in today’s extraordinary meeting that lasted for 90 minutes. They included Sudhanshu Pandey, Prof Nisar Ali, Abdul Majeed Matoo, Mohammad Ibrahim Shehdad, Vikrant Kauthalya and B R Dogra besides both the Executive Directors of the bank, namely Abdul Majeed Mir and A K Mehta.

Informed sources revealed to Early Times that in apprehension of a possible mischief, like creating the bogey of instability, by certain elements, the search committee to be constituted on August 30th would be asked to make and submit a panel of three names to RBI as early as possible. Today’s fall of nearly 6 percent in share value of the bank at BSE fueled such speculation, even as the bank’s fundamentals have been consistently strong since 1996. Some key functionaries of the bank, sources said, were fearing sustained demoralization of the foreign institutional investors by certain elements within and outside the bank.

With today’s dramatic development, race has begun for the top slot. According to the informed sources, a top ranking banker of national reputation, one of the Directors on Board (who is a high profile economist and administrator) besides the Gulf-based son of Prof Soz had been lobbying for the position of Chairman at J&K Bank. Prof Soz’s son, has been heading the Gulf operations of Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation for quite some time. Over a dozen other aspirants were also expected to submit their candidature to the Search Committee.

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