The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to provide complete details of references disposed of during the tenure of NAB’s incumbent acting Chairman Javed Zia Qazi.
A three-member SC bench of Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed and Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali was hearing a petition filed by Habibul Wahabul Khairi of Al-jihad Trust seeking disqualification of Javed Zia Qazi, deputy chairman NAB, who is currently working as the NAB acting chairman. The court also sought the service record of Javed Zia Qazi within a week.
Appearing on notice, Khairi submitted that NAB rules did not allow the appointment of the bureau’s deputy chairman as its acting chairman. He said the post of NAB chairman was a permanent post, which could not be vacated under the law. However, despite several directions of the SC, the government did not appoint the NAB chairman, he said, adding that Qazi was partial and had a soft corner for the ruling elite. Waseem Sajjad, lawyer for Qazi, contended that the appointment of deputy chairman NAB as acting chairman was in accordance with the law.
After hearing both the lawyers, the court ordered NAB to furnish details of the references pending since the resignation of NAB’s former chairman Naveed Ahsan and those disposed of by Qazi while acting as the NAB chairman. The court also sought notification of Javed Zia’s appointment as the acting NAB chairman and adjourned proceedings for a week.
