ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – A concerned citizen has lodged a review petition contesting the Supreme Court’s ruling to invalidate changes to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) of 1999.
The petitioner, Abdul Jabbar, represented by senior lawyer and PPP Senator Farooq H Naek, has urged the Supreme Court to “overturn its verdict from September 15.”
He contends that he was not a party to the constitutional petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s chairman, which challenged the NAB law amendments, but he has been adversely affected by the verdict. He specifically points to the minimum pecuniary threshold set by parliament in the NAB law at Rs500 million.
Jabbar maintains that an accountability court referred a case against him to an anti-corruption court after the NAB law was modified.
In addition, the petitioner raises other legal points, including the jurisdiction of the apex court and issues related to fundamental rights. He argues that since the NAB law was enacted by parliament, it is the sole prerogative of parliament to decide how and whether to amend the law.
This development follows the federal government’s decision, made a day earlier, to file a similar appeal against the Supreme Court’s decision.
THE CASE
On September 15, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court granted the petition of the former prime minister, challenging the amendments to the NAO of 1999 introduced by the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) coalition government. The court ordered the reinstatement of corruption cases against public office holders, which had been closed following the amendment.
The Supreme Court declared the amendments null and void.
With a 2-1 majority, the court ruled to reopen all corruption cases involving amounts less than Rs500 million that had been previously closed against political leaders from various parties and public office holders.
Furthermore, the apex court instructed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to return all case records to the respective courts within seven days.
The verdict underscored that the NAB amendments in question encroached upon the rights of the public as enshrined in the Constitution.
This decision was announced during the final session of former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Umar Ata Bandial, on the eve of his retirement.
