ISLAMABAD: Twenty three lawmakers of the upper house on Friday challenged the appointment of Tariq Bajwa as Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) before the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

They included Farooq H. Naek, Taj Haider, Farhatullah Babar, Sassi Palijo, Azam Sawati, Khushbakht Shujat, Saleem Mandivala, Ilyas Bilour and others.

The petition was filed by their counsel Sardar Latif Ahmed Khan Khosa and it requested the court to direct the federal government to appoint a new SBP governor following the constitutional process laid down by the superior courts. The petition said the unique and special-ised character and funcdons of the SBP require the appointment of the best available and experienced candidate through an open advertisement as its governor.

It says this is the only way to preserve the autonomous status of the institutions as well as to ensure its ef fectiveness.

`Selection of the best person for the job, with the right qualifications and experience, has been ignored in the present case,` the petition says.

The petitioners have alleged that the PML-N government is violating the legal requirements and procedures in making appointments and filling vacancies in all key positions of state institutions.

It alleges that such a methodology was consciously adopted to use them for their personal benefits, self aggrandizement and extracting illegal works.

`Head of the SECP is an example in hand who under orders of the Honourable Supreme Court is...facing criminal charges,` it says, The petition says the subjugation of SECP`s suspended chairman Zafar Hijazi by the government was elaborately discussed in the SC`s judgement in thePanama Papers case.

The petition points out that lawmakers have earlier moved a resolution in the Senate for the immediate removal of Mr Bajwa. The Ministry of Finance has responded through a statement, saying `there was no violation of the State Bank Act, 1956`.

The statement says Mr Bajwa attained his age of superannuation and retired from civil service on June 18 and was appointed as SBP governor by the President of Pakistan on July 7. It goes on to say that several civil servants have been appointed as SBP governors in the past af ter they retire.

According to the petition, the finance ministry`s statement does not address the real question raised by the senators which was that the appointment was in gross violation of law and that the proper selection process was not followed. They said there was also a lack of transparency in the selection process as explained by the superior courts.

The petition requests the court to declare Mr Bajwa`s appointment illegal and to direct the government to appoint a governor in accordance with the procedure laid down by the various judgements of the apex court.