National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Ordinance, 1949

This 1949 Ordinance is the founding law of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), one of the country's major state-linked commercial banks. It was enacted because the government judged an "emergency" existed that required expanding banking facilities and providing credit for agriculture and agricultural produce.

Section 3 sets up the Bank as a body corporate that can sue and be sued in its own name. Section 4 deals with the Bank's share capital: the authorised capital is fixed by the Federal Government through an official Gazette notification and divided into ordinary shares (originally fifty rupees each, later changed to ten rupees each by amendment). Sections 5 to 10 describe how shares work: they are treated as movable property, a principal register of shareholders is kept at the Head Office (Section 11 sets that office up), and branch registers are kept at the offices of the Bank's Local Boards.

Management is split between a Central Board of Directors (Section 12) and Local Boards of Members located at Karachi, Dacca and Lahore (Section 13), reflecting the Bank's origin before 1971. Section 16 provides for a Managing Director and Deputy Managing Directors. Sections 17-21 cover qualification, disqualification, removal and terms of office of Directors and Members, and how vacancies are filled. Sections 22-24 govern general, special, local and special local meetings of shareholders and how votes are exercised.

Section 25 authorises the kinds of banking business the Bank may carry on, while Section 26 lists business it is not authorised to transact, subject to exceptions added later. Sections 27-29 deal with auditors, including government auditors, and their rights and duties. Section 31 addresses liquidation of the Bank, and Section 32 gives the Central Board a broad power to make detailed bye-laws covering shareholder rights, meeting procedures, elections, staff recruitment, pensions, use of the Bank's seal, and conduct of legal proceedings.

This is a very old law from 1949 that has been amended repeatedly (the extract shows amendments in 1953, 1960, 1970, 1973 and 1981, among others), including changes to the value and number of shares. Given how many times the capital and share provisions have been revised, readers should verify the current authorised capital and share value against the up-to-date official text rather than relying on any figure in the original text.