PESHAWAR, April 22: The Peshawar High Court here on Tuesday allowed the former NWFP chief secretary, Khalid Aziz, to file an amended writ petition to challenge the continuation of a presidential ordinance after the expiry of its constitutional life.

A two-member bench comprising the chief justice of the court, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan directed the petitioner to file an amended petition whereby the issue of lapsing of the National Accountability Bureau (Amendment) Ordinance, 2002, should be raised.

The petitioner, through a writ petition, had challenged an amendment in the NAB Ordinance, 1999, whereby the NAB’s chairman was empowered to tender pardon to an accused during the trial. Previously, the chairman could only tender pardon to a person during investigation or inquiry and not during trial.

Last year the high court had accepted Mr Aziz’s writ petition and had declared the tendering of pardon to a former director of primary education department, Shahjehan Khan, and turning him an approver against Mr Aziz as illegal and against the law and had directed that he should be treated as an accused.

However, while the high court had to pronounce the judgment the government amended the NAB Ordinance and empowered the chairman to pardon an accused even during trial. Mr Aziz again filed a writ petition, challenging the amendment.

The petitioner has been facing trial in an accountability reference along with Shahjehan Khan and a former accountant of the education department, Khadim Hussain.

Advocate Zaffar Abbas Zaidi appeared for the petitioner and argued that in the previous petition the court had heard the arguments on Nov 14, 2002, and pronounced its judgment on Dec 4. He added that in between that period the government promulgated the NAB (Amendment) Ordinance, 2002, and authorized the chairman to grant pardon during trial under section 26.

Mr Zaidi argued that the said ordinance was transgression on the independence of judiciary and violative to article 175 of the Constitution, which guaranteed independence of judiciary.

Moreover, he contended that the National Assembly session was convened on Nov 16, 2002, for taking oath by the MNAs and the ordinances promulgated by the president after that date had no protection under the Legal Framework Order. He added that the constitutional life of an ordinance promulgated under article 89 of the Constitution was four months following which the said ordinance ceased to exist.