PTI govt's NAB Amendment Ordinance 2019 challenged in SC

Petition says NAB Amendment Ordinance 2019 attempts to divide society on class basis

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance 2019 was challenged in the Supreme Court on Monday.

Petitioner Farrukh Nawaz Bhatti has sought an immediate suspension of the ordinance until the petition is decided.

In his petition, Bhatti questions whether the amendment is in violation of Articles 8, 9, 10(a), 14, 18 and 25, as well as the preamble and Articles 2(a), 3, 4, 5, 37 and 38 of the Constitution.

It also asks if the NAB Amendment Ordinance is “liable to be struck down and be declared void ab initio being inconsistent with and in derogation of the said articles of the Constitution”.

Terming the amendment “highly discriminatory,” the petitioner says that it is an attempt to create different classes in the society based on “have” and “have nots” on the principles of “might is right” instead of “equality and the “rule of law”.



Bhatti underscores that the amendment divides the concept of corruption into “slabs” and “classes” where the definition of what is corrupt for some and not for others is a violation of Article 25 read with Article 3 and 4 of the Constitution.

He questions whether the PTI government is attempting to “legitimize the corruption and corrupt practices for a selected class of persons having financial power to bulldoze the constitutional order in Pakistan”.

The petition stresses that the amendment is a conspiracy to initiate a “class conflict” in society.

The petitioner has prayed to the apex court to direct the federal government to “discharge its constitutional and legislative responsibility under Article 212(1)(b) regarding enactment of the law under the said provision of the Constitution to save the general public from tortious acts of the Governments or of any person in the service of Pakistan or of any local or other authority empowered by law to levy any tax or cess and any servant of such authority acting in the discharge of his duties as such servant”.