Nasir Iqbal in Dawn, Sept 16th, 2023
• In 2-1 verdict, SC orders restoration of corruption cases on Imran’s plea challenging changes to accountability law
• Directs NAB, others to return records of cases against public office holders to relevant forums within seven days
• Zardari, Nawaz, Shehbaz, Fazl, Sanaullah may face cases again; those in ‘service of Pakistan’ spared
• Justice Shah authors dissenting note, argues parliament has authority to make, repeal and amend laws
`ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court ordered on Friday to restore corruption cases against public representatives as it struck down some sections of the amendments made to the country’s accountability laws last year by the previous coalition government.
The reserved verdict was announced by a three-member bench comprising outgoing Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s 2022 petition challenging the amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).
It was a 2-1 verdict, with Justice Bandial and Justice Ahsan declaring Mr Khan’s plea to be maintainable and Justice Shah issuing a dissenting note, arguing that if parliament could enact the NAB law, it could also repeal or amend it.
The 55-page detailed judgement restored all inquiries, investigations and references that were disposed of based on the now struck-down sections of NAO to their positions before the amendments, and thus deemed to be pending before relevant forums.
The judgement was announced in Courtroom No. 1 by outgoing CJP Bandial, a day before his retirement……
In the judgement, the Supreme Court also ordered NAB and all accountability courts to go ahead with the restored proceedings according to the law…..
Justice Shah’s dissenting note
In his dissenting note, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah said he did not agree with the majority judgement, which he received on Thursday night.
He said the primary question in this case was not about the alleged lopsided amendments introduced in the NAB law by parliament, but about the supremacy of parliament.
He said the majority judgement “has fallen short to recognise the principle of trichotomy of powers, which is the foundation of parliamentary democracy”.
The majority has also “fallen prey to the unconstitutional objective of a parliamentarian, of transferring a political debate on the purpose and policy of an enactment from the Houses of the Parliament to the courthouse of the Supreme Court”, Justice Shah said.
He said the majority judgement had also fallen short to appreciate that parliament can undo what it has done because its legislative power was never exhausted. “If Parliament can enact the NAB law, it can also repeal the entire law or amend the same,” he said. Justice Shah said he would give his detailed opinion later.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1776105/cjps-parting-shot-opens-new-can-of-worms
