ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed time until the second week of January to the government to engage a lawyer to defend the appointment of Justice (r) Syed Deedar Hussain Shah as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman.
A five-member bench headed by Justice Javed Iqbal adjourned the hearing after the court was told that the federation had not yet engaged a lawyer to plead the case. Senior advocates Muhammad Akram Sheikh appeared for the petitioner – Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. Shahid Orakzai, the other petitioner appeared in person, while Dr Khalid Ranjha appeared as the NAB chairman’s lawyer. While hearing a case regarding the Gwadar Port a few days ago, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had expressed reservations over the federation’s practice of hiring private lawyers to plead cases, despite the availability of the attorney general. The Chief Justice had directed the attorney general to seek instructions from the prime minister in this regard.
During the preliminary proceedings of the case on October 25, the court had issued notice to the federal government through the Law Ministry over the issue of NAB chairman’s appointment. The court had also directed the respondent to explain the matter with para-wise comments and submit a report in the court.
