On October 31, the Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa will preside over a five-judge bigger bench to hear the federal government’s appeal of the majority verdict declaring the modifications to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) illegal.
Justices Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Athar Minallah, and Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi round up the panel.
An appeal against the nullification of the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act of 2022’s alterations to the NAO has been filed under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023.
Since this is the first appeal filed under Section 5 of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, the SC has notified the attorneys concerned.
Earlier, Chief Justice Isa, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, and Justice Ijazul Ahsan formed a three-person committee to decide whether or not to hear the intra-court appeal.
Within 14 days of the filing of an appeal, a hearing date must be set in accordance with the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act. After the Supreme Court on October 17 declared the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law revisions invalid, the federal administration filed an appeal.
The Supreme Court panel that heard the NAB legislation modifications case took almost a year and a half to complete its deliberations, and its members were former Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ahsan, and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.
Imran Khan, then-chairman of the PTI and a former prime minister, argued in the Supreme Court that recent changes to the NAB law would allow public officials to get away with white-collar crimes in June 2022.
The PTI leader challenged the changes in court under Article 184 (3) of the constitution.
The Supreme Court ruled 2-1 on September 15 to reinstate corruption cases against public office holders that had been dropped after changes were made to the accountability statute.
While then-CJP Bandial and Justice Ahsan ruled that the PTI chief’s plea was admissible, Justice Mansoor dissented.
After ruling that the changes were invalid, the Supreme Court ordered that all previously closed corruption cases involving political leaders from different parties and public office holders involving amounts of corruption less than Rs500 million be reopened.
Under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, a three-member committee led by the CJP issued a seven-point guideline on the types of matters that will be heard on a priority basis.
It was reported that cases in which a quick resolution was mandated by law will be scheduled for hearing as soon as feasible. They also stated that cases involving disputes over taxes and elections will be given precedence.
Cases involving both pre- and post-arrest bail will also be prioritized. Priority will also be given to hearing cases involving crimes carrying a maximum sentence of ten years in jail. Multiple appeals of the same ruling, according to the sources, will also be prioritized.
The highest court has made it a priority to clear its docket of cases. In October, it processed 2,440 cases and closed them in 20 business days.
There were 1,305 brand new cases filed with the SC during this time.
