ISLAMABAD: The government took back from the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) the authority to remove the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman and awarded it to the president through a new ordinance.
The procedural change was enforced through National Accountability (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, which President Dr Arif Alvi signed on Monday, bringing further changes to the recently promulgated National Accountability Bureau (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021.
The National AccoÂuntability (Second AmeÂnÂdment) Ordinance allowed incumbent NAB chief retired Justice Javed Iqbal to continue in office until his successor is appointed. It also enabled the president to reappoint the incumbent chairman or extend their tenure.
But the latest ordinance reiterated that the NAB chairman’s tenure span will be four years. The criteria for the removal of a chairman will be the same as the one for the removal of a Supreme Court judge, it announced.
The Ministry of Law and Justice issued the ordinance following the approval from President Alvi.
Through the latest ordinance, cases pertaining to deceit have been handed over to the dirty money watchdog.
The ordinance further mentioned that until the installation of electronic devices, the incumbent regime of recording of evidence shall remain in practice.
The fresh law shall come into force at once and the amendments shall be deemed to have taken effect on and from October 6, the draft further read.
In July, the Supreme Judicial Council asked the federal government to come up with a solution to a legal lacuna about the procedure for removal of the NAB chairman.
It suggested that Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan should seek instructions and clarity from the federal government about the removal procedure, as Section 6 of the NAB Ordinance, 1999, was apparently silent about powers of the SJC-like forums to remove the anti-graft boss.
Section 6 of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999, which deals with the appointment procedure of the NAB chairman, says that the president in consultation with the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly appoints the agency’s chairman for a non-extendable period of four years.
The ordinance links his removal to the grounds set for the removal of a Supreme Court judge.
The condition of removal of a superior court judge under Article 209 of the Constitution has been mentioned for becoming incapable of properly performing the duties of his office by reason of physical or mental incapacity or have been guilty of misconduct.
But Prime Minister Imran Khan, before the signing of the second NAB-related ordinance, had made evident his distaste for any dialogue with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on the matter, deeming it a conflict of interest because the latter is facing NAB cases.
