Market operators hope the government will come up with some special packages for such a senior position necessary for the ailing stock market.

The persons who refuse the offers are drawing higher salaries in their present jobs compared to the package offered by the SEC.

Two persons, who had been short-listed for the post, have refused the offer on low compensation package. As a result, the key position remained vacant for the last eight weeks.

The basic salary of SEC chairman is Tk 15,000 per month, plus 40 per cent house rent. He or she is entitled to get other allowances and facilities as per government pay scale.

The first person to decline the offer was professor Abu Ahmed of the Department of Economics of Dhaka University, also chairman of Bangladesh Shilpa Bank.

According to a source close to Ahmed, he refused the position as he found the package to be too low. Moreover, he will have to relinquish his other jobs once he takes over as SEC chairman.

CM Alam was the second person to refuse the offer. Alam is serving as the managing director of Industrial Promotion and Development Company (IPDC) of Bangladesh Ltd. He formally refused to be the SEC chairman on August 28.

Appointing the chairman of SEC from the private sector seems to be difficult with the existing financial package as non-government institutions offer higher salaries and attractive packages to competent persons, sources said.

Another private sector executive had been given the offer informally but he refused on the grounds of being over-aged.

Manir Uddin Ahmed, immediate past chairman of SEC, handed over charges to senior SEC Member Iftikher Ahmed on July 12 on expire of his tenure. The SEC chairman is appointed for a period of three years.