Senate passes State-Owned Enterprises Bill, 2024 unanimously

The State-Owned Enterprises (Governance and Operations) (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which aims to improve the Act’s provisions for the dismissal of directors, was unanimously approved by the Senate on Friday.

The bill to alter the State-Owned Enterprises (Governance and Operations) Act, 2023 [The State-Owned Enterprises (Governance and Operations) (Amendment) Bill, 2024] was introduced in the House by Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar on behalf of the Minister for Finance and Revenue.

In addition to guaranteeing good governance, the minister stated that the change was brought to improve the effectiveness of the Board of Directors (BoDs) of all State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

The proposed amendments would subject the board’s nomination committee to performance reviews of all incoming board directors, including independent and government members. The federal government would receive removal recommendations and decide whether to approve them.