Reference against NAB chief: AGP seeks time to get govt instructions on maintainability

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on Monday took up the reference against Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) former Justice Javed Iqbal over the video scandal.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed, being the chairman of the Council, presided over the meeting, which was participated by two senior judges of the Supreme Court - Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Umar Ata Bandial - and Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Athar Minallah.

It was the third meeting of the SJC on the matter since the filing of a reference.

Iqbal would retire in November this year.

Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan, who assisted the Council, sought time to get instructions from the federal government on maintainability of the complaint.

He briefed the Council that though the procedure for removal of the chairman NAB is the same as for the judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the high courts, but for removal of the chairman is not given in the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 forum.

Chaudhry Saeed Zafar advocate, Barrister Mohsin Ranja, and Barrister Zafarullh had filed a complaint against former Justice Javed Iqbal for allegedly committing an immoral act. In a video, which went viral on social media, he was purportedly shown harassing a woman, Tayyaba Gul, by allegedly exerting influence.

Chaudhry Saeed, who attended the Council’s meeting, later told media said that in 2019, he sent a complaint to the President of Pakistan against former Justice Iqbal, who then sent a reference to the Council.

Chaudhry Saeed said that since 2019 only two meetings of the Council were held on the reference against former Justice Javed Iqbal.

He said since Iqbal had been fighting corruption and taking actions against bureaucrats and politicians; therefore, he should not have met in his office Tayyaba Gul against whom the NAB was holding an inquiry and the reference was pending.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021