Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of the Supreme Court on Friday suggested that Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial constitute a full court to hear the Pakistan Tekreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) petition against the amendments made in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law.
A three-member bench comprising CJP Bandial, Justice Mansoor, and Justice Ijazul Ahsan took up Imran’s plea, which was filed last year in June.
The PTI chief had challenged the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act 2022 passed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led coalition government.
Later, a report submitted by the graft buster to the apex court revealed that the NAB ordinance had ended up solving over 90 per cent of the cases, including high-profile ones, that it was dealing with.
However, the PTI heavily criticised the PDM's decision to approve the amendments, denouncing it as an attempt to limit the graft buster’s authority.
Further, in July of last year, the federal cabinet passed the National Accountability (Third Amendment) Bill for 2022. This bill further restricted NAB’s role in corruption cases involving amounts exceeding Rs500 million. Additionally, it rescinded the president's ability to appoint judges for the accountability court.
During the 48th hearing of the matter, Justice Mansoor threw his weight behind the forming of a full court to decide the matter, emphasising the need for the apex court to decide the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act.
Referring to his note written in the military trial case where he had made the same suggestion, he said that the NAB amendments case should be heard by the full court.
"If the Practice and Procedure Act case had been already decided, things would have been very different," he said, regretting that the apex court had yet to decide on petitions challenging the law.
"I would still request the CJ today that the NAB amendments matter should be heard by a full court," he added.
CJ Bandial asked the federal government lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan as to why he was shying away from presenting arguments “on merit”.
The lawyer replied that he was not shying away but raising the inadmissibility of the plea was his responsibility.
“Why are you trying to leave the hearing,” CJ Bandial asked.
The lawyer said that the court had the right to either accept or reject his argument.
The PTI chief’s lawyer Khawaja Haris did not appear for the hearing. His assistant, Yasir Aman, appeared on his behalf.
The latter apprised the court that detailed responses from their side had been submitted.
CJ Bandial, however, remarked that the parties should give final arguments at the next hearing.
"This case is pending since 2022, it is not necessary to give a decision on the merits of the case," he said, adding that no one had challenged the amendments made in the NAB law before them.
"My retirement is fast-approaching and this is a very important case. I will have to give a decision come what may," he said. "It will be a shame if I fail to give a judgment on the matter."
Later, the apex court postponed the hearing until Aug 28.
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