A day ahead of the July 21 ultimatum given by the Supreme Court for the appointment of chairman and prosecutor general National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the government has requested for a one-month extension to preclude the possibility of the bureau’s dissolution.
Additional Attorney General KK Agha has contended in the petition that the government could not appoint a new chairman since the matter was sub judice. A review appeal for the former chairman’s reinstatement is pending before the court. The application was filed under Rule 6 of the Supreme Court Rules 1980.
The apex court invalidated former NAB chief, Justice (retd) Deedar Hussain Shah’s appointment after opposition leader Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan established that he was not consulted over his selection in violation of the Constitution. The federation’s counsel, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, filed for a review of the decision barring Justice (retd) Deedar Shah for life after the government manoeuvred to reappoint him as the chairman, but it has yet to be taken up for hearing. Pirzada is to file an application for an early hearing of the review appeal.
The government will have to face a very awkward situation for it will end up with two chairmen NAB if it were to make a new appointment and later discover that the apex court has decided to reinstate Deedar Shah, Agha has stated. To avoid any ambiguity, he has requested the court to decide the review petition at the earliest. The court ordered Deputy Chairman NAB Javed Zia Qazi to immediately relinquish the additional charge of chairman NAB. The government shall be responsible ‘if in such an eventuality, the National Accountability Bureau practically ceases to exist under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999,’ stated the detailed judgment.
Since the new chairman is yet to be appointed, the court has allowed the prosecutor general to be appointed in consultation with the deputy
chairman NAB, according to former federal law minister Dr Babar Awan.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 21st, 2011.
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