Govt given 10 days to appoint NAB chief

SC turns down Attorney-Genral Anwarul Haq's plea for grant of three weeks time.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday granted ten days time to the government of Pakistan for the appointment of chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq prayed for the early hearing of the petition he filed on Wednesday evening seeking three weeks time for the appointment of NAB Chief.

“We can give you only ten days for his appointment as 17-member larger bench has already been constituted for the hearing of NRO review appeal as well as NRO implementation case on October 13,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked while presiding over the three-member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.

NAB chief has an important role in the implementation of NRO verdict in letter and spirit and he must be answerable to the court for some important questions, the chief justice further said while addressing the attorney general.

Later he adjourned the hearing till October 10.

Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq had filed a petition on Wednesday evening seeking a further three weeks’ time from the apex court to appoint a new chief of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Under the new constitutional arrangement following the passage of the 18th amendment, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is bound to take the opposition leader in the National Assembly into confidence before choosing anyone for the key slot.

The negotiations between the two are reported to be stalled at the moment.

The Supreme Court had earlier directed the government to appoint Chairman NAB by September 30 and following this order the government suggested four names for the job, namely, former Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justicd (retd) Sardar Raza Khan, Justice (retd) Faqir  Muhammad Khokhar, Mehmood Salim and two former parliamentarians of PPP.

Leader of the opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ahmad Khan, however, rejected all these names, and has been insisting that a sitting judge should be appointed as Chairman NAB. At the time of filing this report, no new names for the post had been suggested to the opposition leader for consultation.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2010.