ISLAMABAD – A 17-member bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed grave concern over the appointment of chairman National Accountability Bureau and non-implementation of apex court judgment on National Reconciliation Ordinance.
The bench maintained that December 16, 2009 judgment must be implemented in letter and spirit. Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary, heading the larger bench, remarked, “misunderstanding has been created that the court is not accommodating.” Raja Fayyaz questioned what were the reasons behind non-implementation of the SC order, and who was responsible for it?
The court allowed senior advocate Sardar Latif Khosa, who resigned as Advisor to Prime Minister on Information and Technology on Tuesday, to appear on behalf of the Federation. He, however, sought time for preparation, which the court granted and adjourned the case till the first week of November, but said it depended on the availability of the bench.
The court, however, asked him to get his licence revived from the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and duly intimate the Registrar, Supreme Court. Justice Jawwad S Khawaja remarked that according to Legal Practitioners and Bars Ethics Act he had to get the certificate from PBC as after his appointment as advisor the Council was suspended.
The Chief Justice told Attorney General Maulvi Anwar-ul-Haq that in appointment of NAB Chairman, para 180 of the SC judgement of December 16, 2009 and para 288 of Asfand Yar Wali verdict were not followed strictly, and directed him to look into the matter. Justice (Retd) Deedar Hussain Shah was appointed as new chairman of NAB last week. Justice Iftikhar said in the light of judgments of apex court consultation with the CJP for NAB chiefÂ’s appointment was a must.
The bench also expressed dissatisfaction over the NAB report and said it was not prepared in accordance with the verdicts of 16th December 2009, and 27th September 2010. NAB Additional Prosecutor General Mohammad Anwar Tarar was asked to submit another report along with the detailed documents to substantiate the Bureau stance.
Tarar said the number of Accountability Courts had been increased. Justice Javed said there was no need to highlight the NAB internal arrangements, but “tell us how far the NRO judgment has been implemented; as many questions have been raised on the NAB’s performance”.
The Chief Justice told him that the court would decide the case on the basis of documents that would be provided by the NAB. Justice Mohammad Sair Ali said; “Tracking of travel money is very easy as the money would have been transferred on the court orders, therefore you could find it out through court’s judgments.”
The Chief Justice asked the Attorney General why the Government was not seriously taking action against the people who were convicted under National Reconciliation Ordinance, but still holding the government posts. The Chief Justice said, “If you have instructions we will give you three days otherwise we will take up the matter ourselves as you have given undertaking to take action against convicts”.
The Attorney General informed that the report submitted by National Accountability Bureau contained 22 names and out of them two were still working in the government departments.
The bench conveyed displeasure over the explanation given by Secretary Establishment Division Ismail Qureshi regarding Adnan KhawajaÂ’s appointment as Managing Director OGDCL, saying his case would be taken along with other NRO cases by an appropriate bench in due course of time. The Secretary Establishment Division submitted the report, but the Chief Justice said it was highly unsatisfactory and directed him to submit the summary that was moved to the Prime Minister for AdnanÂ’s appointment.
Ismail Qureshi informed that AdnanÂ’s appointment case was not initiated by them but on the verbal order of the Prime Minister. But when he came to know about that Adnan was a NAB convict then notification of his appointment was withdrawn immediately.
Justice Javel Iqbal said that the notification was withdrawn when media highlighted the case and the court had taken up the matter. The Chief Justice questioned if there were any rules and regulations regarding verbal or oral orders.
Justice Asif Khosa asked what was the emergency that they did not wait for the confirmation, but issued the notification. “It is the mockery of rules,” he added.
Regarding Ahmed Riaz Sheikh, the court observed that through the inquiry report prima facie it appeared that Additional Secretary of Ministry of Interior Mohammad Ahsan Raja, who was in-charge of the ministry was responsible. The notice was issued to him to explain why the Contempt of Court proceedings should not be initiated against him.
The court also decided to take up review petitions of former AG Malik Mohammad Qayyum, former Chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Nawid Ahsan, former Prosecutor General of NAB Dr Danishwar Malik and former Deputy Prosecutor General of NAB Abdul Baseer Qureshi with the Federation NRO review petition.
Agencies add: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has said the recent appointment of Chairman of National Accountability Bureau is yet another violation of the Supreme CourtÂ’s NRO verdict. The Supreme Court, however, accepted the FederationÂ’s plea seeking approval to substitute its counsel to plead its review case on National Reconciliation Ordinance decision and fixed hearing of the case for Nov 1. The court allowed reappointed government counsel Sardar Latif Khan Khosa to proceed with the case in place of Barrister Kamal Azfar.