Presidential ordinance to amend NAB law challenged in LHC

ISLAMABAD: Recently promulgated National Accountability Bureau (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 has been challenged in Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday, ARY News reported.

The petitioner has made the federal government and others party in the case.

The government in a recently promulgated presidential ordinance amended the NAB law and extended tenure of the incumbent Chairman NAB Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal.

“The NAB Amendment Ordinance contravenes the judgments of the higher judiciary,” according to the petition.

“An ordinance could not be promulgated in presence of the parliament,” the petition said. “Legislation is the mandate of the Parliament,” the petitioner said seeking the court to declare the NAB ordinance as “unconstitutional and unlawful”.

The plea further said that a law should not be person-specific and requested to the court to keep law in abeyance until final decision of this petition.

President Arif Alvi had promulgated the NAB Amendment Ordinance 2021 paving way to extend the tenure of the chairman of the anti-graft watchdog.

As per the new law, the accountability court would have the authority to approve bail plea of the suspect.

Attorney General Khalid Javed earlier said that a consultation would be made with the opposition leader over the appointment and extension of the NAB chairman. “The incumbent chairman will continue to work until a consensus is reached on the appointment or extension,” the AG said.

It is to be mentioned here that the incumbent Chairman NAB, Javed Iqbal’s four-year term  completed on October 8 (yesterday).