LHC bars NAB Punjab DG from holding office

A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday stopped Rana Zahid Mehmood, the director general of the National Accountability Bureau Punjab, from performing his duties forthwith, as it accepted a petition challenging his appointment and an application against his keeping charge of the office despite the expiry of his one year contract.
The bench of Justice Sheikh Ahmad Farooq and Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan passed the order on a civil miscellaneous application filed by Shah Faisal Quershi in a pending petition challenging the appointment of NAB Punjab DG Rana Zahid.
The petitioner submitted that Zahid, a former LHC judge, was appointed as the NAB Punjab DG on a one year contract in April 20, 2010, in violation of rules and regulations. He was appointed after his removal from the judiciary following a Supreme Court verdict on a plea by the Sindh High Court Bar Association.
During the proceedings, Deputy Attorney General Muhammad Ashraf submitted a reply from the federal Ministry of Law, saying the federal government had not given any extension to respondent Rana Zahid after the expiry of his contract on April 21, 2011.
The petitioner submitted that Zahid was holding office unlawfully for his vested interests and was exercising influence in the Canal Motors case.
He said Zahid had been favouring his relative Rana Qaiser Nazir, an accused in the Canal Motors scam, and, therefore, hindering transparent probe into the case. The petitioner’s lawyer requested the court to restrain Zahid from holding the NAB Punjab DG’s office forthwith, as he had no legal ground to work without having his contract extended.
Defending Zahid, NAB prosecutor Bashir Ahmad and consultant Asad Manzoor said the NAB Human Resource (HR) director allowed Zahid to continue performing his function on ad-hoc basis.
They said the slot of the chairman NAB had been lying vacant and the deputy chairman had delegated powers to the NAB HR director, who allowed Zahid to continue performing his duties.
However, the petitioner’s lawyer opposed the argument, contending that the deputy chairman could only use these powers when the NAB chairman had been appointed but could not perform duties due to some disease or other problems.
Justice Sheikh Ahmad Farooq asked Zahid to explain whether his contract was extended after April 21, to which he said a summary had been moved to the prime minister, but no notification had been issued so far.
After hearing the arguments, the bench accepted the civil miscellaneous application and restrained Zahid from performing duties as the NAB Punjab DG. The petitioner contended as the SC had declared contract appointments against the law and constitution, the appointment was also a violation of SC decision.