Submit govt view on NAB law, AG told

The amended ordinance was challenged in the apex court by PML-N senator.

The Supreme Court has asked the government’s top lawyer to submit the government’s point of view in writing on the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance of 2010.

The amended ordinance was challenged in the apex court by Senator Syed Zafar Ali Shah of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Shah had requested the apex court to suspend the operation of the ordinance and declare it as being unconstitutional and illegal.

The ordinance was promulgated by President Asif Ali Zardari on September 16 and was subsequently tabled in the Senate by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan on October 1.

At that time, Senator Shah had led an opposition walk-out, criticising the government for keeping the ordinance under wraps till the last working day of the upper house of parliament.

The petition termed the whole process, from promulgation to submission of the ordinance in the Senate, as unconstitutional and illegal.

In his petition, Shah said that the amended law was promulgated without the advice of the prime minister, a prerequisite under the Constitution, adding that the prime minister had said he had no knowledge of the legislation.

The petition further said that through the amended ordinance, the law minister had been authorised to transfer National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases from one court to another.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2010.