Appointment of Punjab NAB chief challenged

Petitioner says the appointment is in violation of a recent Supreme Court judgement on contract employment.

LAHORE:

The appointment of acting director general of National Accountability Bureau in Punjab, Rana Zahid Mehmood, was challenged in the Lahore High Court on Saturday.

Petitioner Shah Faisal Farooq, through his counsel Muhammad Azhar Siddique, submitted that the appointment was in violation of a recent Supreme Court judgement that had termed contract employment against the Constitution.

He said Rana Zahid was appointed as the NAB (Punjab) acting director general after his removal from the Lahore High Court following the Supreme Court order. He said Zahid had removed Rana Waqas Ahmad from the investigation panel looking into the Canal Motors case. Waqas Ahmad, the petitioner said, was conducting investigations on merit and had held Rana Qaiser Nazir guilty in the case.

He said Nazir was a close relative of Rana Zahid.

The petitoner said the matter had been reported to the NAB chairman and the Punjab Inspector General of Police but they took no action.

The petitioner requested the court to declare Rana Zahid’s appointment illegal and to issue directives to transfer the Canal Motors investigation back to Rana Waqas.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2011.