HC declares insurance regulator’s moves about Delta Life illegal

The High Court on Thursday declared the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority's (IDRA's) moves of suspending the board of Delta Life Insurance Company Ltd, and appointing and extending time of an administrator in the company illegal.

The High Court bench of Justice Khasruzzaman and Justice Md Mahmud Hassan Talukder made the previous rule – issued last year after hearing a writ petition filed the life insurer and some members of its suspended board – absolute, said Barrister Karishma Jahan, a lawyer for the petitioner.

They challenged the insurance regulator's moves of the company's board suspension, administrator appointment for four months, and time extension of the administrator, she told The Business Standard on Thursday evening.

The previous board of directors was restored through the HC judgment, she added.

Delta Life sources said, following the judgment, the administrator left the company head office in the capital's Gulshan area.

In February last year, IDRA suspended the insurer's board citing irregularities, and appointed a former IDRA member as the administrator for four months.

The ousted entrepreneurs went to the HC to challenge the regulator's move. They also filed an anti-corruption case against IDRA Chairman Dr M Mosharraf Hossain alleging him of demanding bribes.

Later, IDRA changed administrators in the company twice.

Meanwhile, the row between IDRA and Delta Life only kept intensifying until the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday had a meeting with both the parties in presence of senior ministry officials and the chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission.

Delta Life filed 21 cases against IDRA and its chairman which were still in the court's jurisdiction during the ministry meeting. On the other hand, IDRA filed four against Delta Life.  

The ministry reportedly wants to end the row and see an inclusive board of directors in the company.