Authority questioned: Validity of NAB Ordinance 1999 challenged

High court can strike down the constitutional provisions while exercising its jurisdiction under the Article 199


Our Correspondent July 07, 2015
Sindh High Court building. PHOTO: EXPRESS

KARACHI:


The Sindh High Court (SHC) has questioned maintainability of a petition challenging the validity of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance 1999 and subsequent ongoing arrests and proceedings initiated against civil servants for corrupt practices in Sindh.


Headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, a division bench asked lawyer Farooq H Naek to satisfy the court how the “high court can strike down the constitutional provisions while exercising its jurisdiction under the Article 199”.


A civil servant, Asghar Abbas Sheikh, had challenged the validity of the NAB Ordinance 1999 under which the NAB officials were allegedly harassing him during inquiry into the Hyderabad twin city scam.


His lawyer, Farooq H Naek, argued that all the ordinances, including NAB Ordinance was inserted into the Constitution by Pervez Musharraf through the 17th Constitutional Amendment, which was struck down through the 18th Constitutional Amendment. The NAB Ordinance therefore does not exist anymore, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2015.

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