A five-member bench of the Supreme Court stopped accountability courts from giving final decisions in corruption cases until the next hearing in the National Accountability Bureau amendments appeal case.
The bench, led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, adjourned the case until the detailed judgement in the Practice and Procedure bill case is issued.
The bench also includes Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Mandokhail and Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi.
The proceedings began with the government’s counsel asking for more time to prepare their arguments.
Justice Isa remarked that the petitioner had argued that the NAB amendment case should have been heard by a five-member bench instead of a three-member bench under the Practice and Procedure bill which has now been shown to be in accordance with the constitution.
The CJP added that if the counsel managed to convince him on this point, the current bench would not hear arguments on the merits of the appeal.
In that case, the CJP added, the petitions challenging the NAB amendments would be restored and a new five-member bench would be constituted to hear them.
Justice Isa said that there was no telling what the Practice and Procedure verdict would contain against cases already resolved so it would be better to wait for the detailed judgement.
The bench also questioned if all NAB amendments had been struck down to which lawyer Farooq H Naik replied that some amendments from the first and second had been struck down while the third amendment had not even been touched.
Justice Athar Minallah remarked that the amendments could be declared unconstitutional until all the amendments had been looked at in detail.
The bench then adjourned the hearing until the decision in the Practice and Procdure bill case is issued. THe court also notified all parties including Imran Khan, on whose petition the NAB amendments had been annulled.
In September, a three-member bench had struck down amendments to the NAB law in a 2-1 verdict. It was the last judgment issued by Justice Umar Ata Bandial as chief justice, with Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan also agreeing.
Apart from declaring the law unconstitutional, the court had also ordered that all corruption cases closed due to the amendment should be reopened.
