NAB official gets his day in court

The Islamabad High Court will rule if the Public Accounts Committee has jurisdiction to probe allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of power against top NAB officials.

By Naveed Naqvi

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court Wednesday ordered the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to hold its disciplinary action against a top National Accountability Bureau (NAB) official while it decides if the Committee has jurisdiction in the matter.

The order came from Acting Chief Justice IHC Justice Amir Farooq in a petition filed by DG NAB Lahore Shahzad Saleem, who had been summoned by the Committee over sexual harassment and abuse of power allegations against him and former NAB chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal.

The court, however, clarified if was not issuing a stay order on the proceedings of PAC.

The court enquired as to what the matter pending in the Public Accounts Committee was. The NAB prosecutor apprised the court that Tayyaba Gul had filed a complaint in the PAC against the former chairman NAB, DG NAB Lahore, and others.

He maintained the PAC had exceeded its authority as it neither had any jurisdiction over NAB nor could look into anything besides public accounts. The court said that the Attorney General had been asked to give arguments regarding the jurisdiction of the Public Accounts Committee.

On this occasion, the Deputy Attorney General said that there was an exception to the action of the Public Accounts Committee, to which the court said it had to look at the law.

Responding to the claim that the committee was part of the parliament and therefore had immunity from court proceedings, the special prosecutor NAB told the court that only the proceedings of the parliament were exempted under the law.

The court asked if it was his contention that only the procedural proceedings of the parliament are exempted under Article 69. The NAB prosecutor told the court that under Article 69, the parliament did not have total immunity as the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) had put limits on parliamentary immunity.

On this occasion, the Additional Prosecutor General NAB presented a copy of the National Assembly Rules before the court, on which the court said if it was his contention that if there was a Standing Committee of Law and Justice, then its job was to look at the laws.

On the course of the hearing, the court asked Tayyaba Gul how she was the affected party, why she wanted to become a party to the extant case. Justice Amir Farooq asked Gul’s lawyer to explain under which law she was seeking to become a party in the case.

In particular, the court wished to know why Gul wanted to become a party here when she had already filed a complainant before the PAC. The court instructed her lawyer to give further arguments on the request to become a party at the next hearing

The court issued notices to the parties. A notice was issued to the Secretary National Assembly and the Secretary Public Accounts Committee. The court also issued notices on Tayyaba Gul’s request to become a party in the case.

The court adjourned the further hearing of the case.