NAB chairman slot: MQM, JI seek to appoint retired judge

NA forms panel to discuss bills seeking to amend NAB ordinance

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Tuesday formed a parliamentary committee to discuss two separate bills moved by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Jamaat-e-Islami, seeking amendments in the NAB Ordinance, 1999.

The amendments seek to enhance its scope to include retired judges of superior courts for the post of National Accountability Bureau chairman.

Speaker Ayaz Sadiq asked Law Minister Zahid Hamid to constitute the committee having representation of both the houses of parliament and all provinces.

Both the parties have proposed that retired judges of superior courts should be appointed as NAB chairman.

However, the JI has given answers to several controversies, particularly regarding the consultation process for the appointment of NAB chairman.

The JI proposed that NAB chairman should be appointed by the president in consultation with the chief justice of Pakistan, two senior judges of the Supreme Court and chief justices of all high courts and that the [chairman] should not hold dual nationality.

The existing laws say that the president would appoint the chairman in consultation with the leader of the house [prime minister] and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly and a retired officer of the armed forces of Pakistan equivalent to the rank of a lieutenant general or a retired federal government officer in BPS-22 or equivalent can also be appointed as chairman.

The JI has proposed 19 amendments in the existing laws. Unlike the MQM, the JI has laid down a criterion for judges and a new provision in Section 6(ba)IV, which says that a person shall not be appointed NAB chairman unless he “has always preserved, protected and defended the constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan”, in a bid to filter out those who have taken oath under the PCO.

It further suggested that ‘voluntary return’ and ‘plea-bargain’ clauses should be deleted for being discriminatory.

Keeping in view the haggling over investigations into the Panama leaks, the JI proposed a new provision -- Section 22-A -- empowering the chairman to constitute an ‘inquiry commission’ to probe matters related to a person, firm, association of persons who conceals his assets abroad or fails to submit a statement relating to his property or establishes ‘offshore company’ to evade tax or any other offence relating to corruption and corrupt practices aboard.

On the other hand,, the MQM’s bill proposed two amendments regarding the eligibility criterion for NAB’s chairman and deputy chairman.

Similarly, Deputy Chairman of NAB shall be “a retired chief justice or a judge of the Supreme Court or a judge of a high court of any province” says amendment in Section 7.

The statement of objects and reasons of the bill said that NAB office-holders “should be courageous, law knowing, fully abreast with court procedures and nitty-gritty of the investigations.

During the proceedings several other bills, including the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill-2016, the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Bill-2016, the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill-2016 and the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill-2016 were also introduced.

Law Minister informed the house that the government and the opposition have agreed to a joint draft of the Anti-Rape Law which will be presented before the joint sitting of parliament for approval soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2016.