NAB chairman appointment: Ch Nisar wants ‘meaningful’ consultation

Opposition leader says president must nominate a panel, not just one person.

ISLAMABAD:

Opposition leader from the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Friday said the government was bound to seek “meaningful” consultation with not only his office, but also with the Supreme Court chief justice for appointing a new chief to the country’s top accountability body.

In a letter written to President Asif Ali Zardari in response to the nomination of Admiral (Retd) Fasih Bukhari for the slot, Nisar cited a verdict of the apex court to support his argument.

The letter, however, did not raise any objection to the person, conduct or the integrity of the retired naval chief and Nisar rejected his nomination on “technical grounds”.

“I am of the view that the panel of possible candidates should be drawn up mutually and the nominee finalised after meaningful, purposive and consensus-oriented consultation,” the letter said.

The letter, issued by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s media office, quoted Nisar as telling the president that he must nominate a panel of candidates instead of a single person so that the opposition leader and chief justice could be consulted.

He then cited the draft of Accountability Bill pending before the National Assembly standing committee on law and justice, wherein the government itself had proposed that the NAB chief should be either a judge of the higher judiciary or a person qualified for that portfolio.

Fasih, Nisar said, is neither a judge nor is he qualified to be one.

The opposition leader gave references of Supreme Court verdicts in Asfandyar Wali, Harris Steel Mills, Ch Nisar Ali Khan and Mubashar Hassan’s petitions.

On October 9, Zardari had proposed the name of Admiral (Retd) Fasih Bukhari for the slot of NAB chairman and had written letters under Section 6 (b) (i) to the Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition for their comments.

Presidency when contacted confirmed they have received the letter but refrained to comment.

Deedar Hussain Shah case

A four-member bench of the Supreme Court, constituted to take up the government’s review appeal against the judgment disqualifying Justice (retd) Deedar Hussain Shah as NAB chairman, on Friday forwarded the federation’s application to the chief justice for constituting a larger bench.

During the hearing, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, counsel for the federation, told the court that the federal government had started the process of appointing a new chairman for the bureau.

Pirzada further said although the government had filed a petition for the suspension of an earlier judgment of the apex court, so far the federation had not given him any instruction regarding the hearing of a review petition. Therefore, he sought more time from the court until appropriately instructed.

The counsel said that the review petition should be heard by at least a five-member bench and pointed out that almost all the judges who heard Shah’s case have retired.

In response, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa remarked: “Although for other brother judges of this bench this petition is new, for me it is a review petition as I am the only member of that bench.” (With additional reporting by Qaiser Zulfiqar in Islamabad)
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2011.