The Supreme Court of Pakistan, while accepting the intra-court appeals of the federal government and other victims against the nullification of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendments, annulled the decision to nullify the NAB amendments and restored the NAB amendments.
A 5-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faiz Isa gave the decision. The Supreme Court has given the decision by 0-5.
Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel, Justice Athar Manullah, and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi are included in the bench.
The Supreme Court has said in its decision that PTI founder Imran Khan could not prove that the NAB amendments are unconstitutional.
The judgment said that the Supreme Court should uphold the legislation in all possible cases, the NAB amendments could not be proved unconstitutional.
The decision of the Supreme Court has said that the court and judges cannot play the role of gatekeeper for the Parliament.
The role of Parliament and Judiciary is clear in the Constitution, the detailed decision will be released on the website of the Supreme Court.
Judges, armed forces not exempt from NAB law: Additional note by Justice Athar Minullah
Justice Athar Minullah said in his additional note that he agreed with the majority decision of the Chief Justice, that the government appeals are not admissible under the Practice and Procedure Act.
He said that the intra-court appeals of the government are rejected.
The intra-court appeals of the aggrieved parties are allowed, and the judgment against the NAB amendments is set aside.
Justice Athar Manullah said that judges and members of the armed forces are not exempted from the NAB law, the detailed reasons for the additional note will be issued later.
Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi also wrote an additional note in which he agreed with the decision but disagreed with the reasons.
The Supreme Court restored the NAB amendments after 3 months on the appeals against the nullification of the NAB amendments.
The Supreme Court has said in the decision that the decision of the 3-member bench could not prove that the NAB amendments conflicted with the Constitution.
The 5-member larger bench had reserved the decision on June 6, 22, after completing the hearing of the federal government’s intra-court appeal filed against the decision of the 3-member bench.
Background of NAB Amendment Case
The NAB amendments were passed during the PDM regime, a petition was filed against the NAB amendments by the founder of PTI Imran Khan.
On 15 September 2023, the Supreme Court declared the NAB amendments null and void.
The Supreme Court had invalidated 9 out of 10 NAB amendments, against which the federal and provincial governments had filed intra-court appeals in the Supreme Court.
In the NAB amendments, many matters were removed from the jurisdiction of the NAB, and the NAB amendments were declared effective with the commencement of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.
Under the NAB amendments, NAB cannot investigate cases of less than 50 crores.
NAB can investigate fraud cases with more than 100 victims, with a maximum remand of 14 days, later extended to 30 days.
NAB could not process federal, provincial, or local tax matters, regulatory bodies were excluded from NAB’s purview.
