The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday issued notices to secretary to the President of Pakistan and others regarding appointment of Justice Syed Asghar Haider (retd) as National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor general (PG).
A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani conducted the hearing of a petition and adjourned the hearing till May 10 after issuing aforementioned directions. During the course of hearing, Additional Attorney General Tariq Khokhar submitted a reply on behalf of Ministry of Law and Justice while Special Prosecutor NAB Jehanzeb Bharwana appeared before the court to represent the anti-graft body.
The NAB prosecutor adopted before the court that the office of NAB prosecutor general is a constitutional post, and in this matter President of Pakistan was not made a party. On this the court observed that the petitioner may also cite the President as respondent in this regard. Then, the petitioner amended the petition and also included the President as a respondent in his petition.
Later, the court deferred the hearing by issuing notices to the secretary to President.
Raja Muhammad Umair Khan moved the court through his counsel Muhammad Shahid Kamal Khan Advocate and cited chairman NAB, secretary Establishment Division, secretary law, secretary finance and NAB Prosecutor General Syed Asghar Haider as respondents.
The petitioner stated in the petition that he came to know that the respondents have violated the law of land by "favouring" Syed Asghar by appointing him prosecutor general NAB in "disregard" of not only the provisions of law but also the Constitution of Pakistan.
He argued that Haider was retired as judge of Lahore High Court on 8-10-2009 and under Article 207 sub-article (3), "it is provided that a person who has held office as a permanent judge, retired judge of the high court; (a) of the Supreme Court, shall not plead or act in any court or before any authority in Pakistan; (b) of a high court, shall not plead or act in any court or before any authority within its jurisdiction."
He maintained that prosecutor general accountability is appointed under section 8 of National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999. "The crux of the matter is that the Prosecutor General Accountability is the Principal Law Officer of the NAB who must have the eligibility to appear before the courts established under National Accountability Ordinance and all other courts, meaning thereby that the prosecutor general accountability should have not any type of embargo or restriction on his appearance as an advocate before any court," added the petitioner.
The petitioner contended that the appointment of Syed Asghar as the Prosecutor General Accountability is a clear-cut "violation" of the rule "right man for the right job." He continued that Haider is having a constitutional bar which makes him ineligible from appearing, practicing or acting as an advocate or a law officer before any court falling under the Lahore High Court so he is ineligible to appear before more than 50 per cent of the courts of Pakistan, hence he under any stretch of imagination cannot be considered for appointment on the post of prosecutor general accountability.
Therefore, he prayed to the court that by way of acceptance of this petition, the respondent may be asked to show under what authority and law, he is holding the post of prosecutor general accountability NAB, Islamabad, while the other respondents may be asked to show cause why they have failed to uphold the rule of law and due process of law in the interest of justice and fair play.
Meanwhile, another bench of IHC issued notices to secretaries of interior, education and health in response to a petition pertaining to the use of drugs in educational institutions of the federal capital. The bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq conducted hearing of the case and summoned all abovementioned officials in person before the court on the next date of hearing.
During the course of hearing, Kashif Malik told the court that a UN report has termed the situation of Islamabad regarding drug usage as alarming. The court also directed the director Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to appear before the court in person. Later, the court adjourned the hearing for two weeks in this connection.
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