LAHORE, Dec 18: Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the Lahore High Court directed the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Thursday to decide within seven days whether the funds available with it could be spent on providing relief to investors and brokers.

The court issued these directives when the HSZ Securities pleaded that the SECP’s two funds —Investors Protection Fund and Members Contribution Fund — could be used to help investors and brokers to recover their losses and enable the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) to function normally.

The court was requested to appoint a judicial commission to probe the losses suffered by brokers/investors due to malafide and unjustified policies of the SECP.

The judge adjourned the proceedings till Jan 13.

During the last hearing, the court had restored the powers of the board of directors of Lahore Stock Exchange with the condition that it would not close down the exchange for trading.

The court had ordered continuation of trading and retaining the LSE index floor.