Kathmandu: The member of the Board of Directors(BODs) of Nepal Life Insurance, Kamalesh Kumar Agrawal, has compelled his son Jayant Kumar Agarwal to resign from the BODs of Suryajyoti Life Insurance.
Following the instruction of the Nepal Insurance Authority, Kamalesh Kumara opted to force his son to quit the BODs of Suryajyoti Life Insurance. The Authority had an objection over the representation of Kamalesh Kumar and Jayant Kumar in the BODs of two different insurers of the same nature. So, it instructed the Agrawal duo to opt for the resignation of either one.
Kamalesh Kumar has been occupying the position of Director in the BODs of Nepal Life Insurance for more than one decade. Being a young entrepreneur Jayant Kumar, son of Kamalesh, had the first opportunity to join the BODs of Suryajyoti Life as an independent director. But he couldn’t enjoy his full term as a director because of his father Kamalesh.
Kamalesh is representing the promoter shareholder’s group in the BODs of Nepal Life Insurance. Prior to that, he was an independent director of Nepal Life.
According to the ‘Corporate Governance Directives 2075’ issued by the Nepal Insurance Authority, more than one member of the same family cannot join the BODs of two or more insurers having the same nature of business.
Kamalesh Kumar Agrawal has been a controversial personality in the BODs of Nepal Life. He is known for exploiting maximum meeting allowance from the so-called meetings of BODs of Nepal Life. In the financial year 2077-78, he received Rs.27,10,000 attending 138 BODs meetings. The Authority had slapped a fine the Nepal Life against the violation of corporate governance allowing Kamalesh to chair a number of sub-committees of BODs beyond the legal limit.
Interestingly, there’s a huge gap between meeting the allowances of Nepal Life Insurance and Surya Jyoti Life Insurance. Nepal Life offers Rs. 22,000 and Rs. 21,000 to the chairman and members of the BODs. Suryajyoti Life offers Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 12,000 respectively to the chairman and member of BODs.
