A full bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the government to fill the vacant posts of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman and prosecutor general, positively within a month.
Warning the federal government, the SC said in case of failure to comply with the orders within the stipulated time, the NAB Deputy Chairman Javed Zia Qazi, who is currently acting as the chairman, would have to stop exercising his powers. “And the responsibility of the institution of NAB becoming non-existent would squarely lie on the government,” the bench, headed by Justice Javed Iqbal and consisting of Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Asif Khan Khosa, said while disposing of the petition of Al-Jihad Trust against the constitution of NAB Deputy Chairman Javed Zia Qazi.
The bench observed that allowing the deputy chairman to practically act for the chairman, when the former is not even qualified for the office, was contrary to the Supreme Court decision is the Bank of Punjab versus Haris Steel Mills case.
The court said that in the present case, an irrepressible impression had been created that those responsible for filling pots of the NAB chairman were not interested in appointing the chairman and were content with running the affairs of the institution through the deputy chairman.
