Third accountability court established in Islamabad amid rising NAB cases

ISLAMABAD: A third accountability court is being established in Islamabad to deal with the rising alleged corruption cases filed from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), ARY NEWS reported.

The law ministry has also approved and issued a notification for the appointment of Session Judge Syed Asghar Ali as the judge of the third court in the federal capital.

President Arif Alvi also approved the appointment of the judge.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, recently heard a suo moto case pertaining to delay in the proceedings of accountability courts.

During the course of proceedings, the court  (SHC) had directed the government to fill the vacant post in Islamabad’s Accountability Court in one week while two vacant posts in Karachi’s Accountability Courts within two weeks.

The court also directed the government to start the consultation process about two posts of Peshawar’s Accountability Courts which would be vacant in June.

The Deputy Attorney General said that the summary of the NAB courts in Quetta and Lahore would be forwarded to the President on Thursday.

The Chief Justice asked how many cases were pending in these courts?

The NAB prosecutor replied that there were a total of 1226 cases being heard in the courts across the country.

Moreover, on March 10, the Sindh High Court has directed the government to finalize names of judges for appointment at Karachi’s Accountability Courts within one week.

“Here 350 references are in pending in the court,” the chief justice further said. “If you won’t appoint judges, we will start giving bails to the accused,” the chief justice warned the top official of the federal law department.