SC to unveil verdict in NAB law case today
Supreme Court. PHOTO: FILE
The Supreme Court will announce today (Friday) at 9:30am its verdict on the intra-court appeals filed against its earlier decision to nullify the amendments made to the law governing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) during the previous PML-N led government.
A five-member larger bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJ) Qazi Faez Isa, and comprising Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Athar Minallah, and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, had reserved the verdict on June 6after five hearings.
On September 15, 2023, a three-member SC bench led by former CJ Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had nullified the NAB law amendments introduced during the PML-N led coalition government by a majority vote of 2 to 1.
The third member of the bench, Justice Shah, had penned a dissenting note.
The bench had allowed former prime minister Imran Khan's petition challenging amendments made to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999 and ordered the restoration of corruption cases against public officeholders that were withdrawn following the tweaks.
The apex court had also ordered the reopening of all corruption cases worth less than Rs500 million that were previously closed against political leaders from various parties and public officeholders. The court had declared the amendments null and void.
Furthermore, the top court had directed NAB to return all case records to the relevant courts within seven days. The SC had noted that the NAB amendments in question had impacted the rights of the public as outlined in the Constitution.
The order, announced by Justice Bandial in his final session before retirement, stated, "By a majority of 2:1 (Justice Shah dissenting), Constitution Petition No.21 of 2022 is allowed. The court has also invalidated the judgments issued by the accountability courts based on the amended laws."