The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the denotification of four officials of the National Accountability Bureau whose initial appointment could not be justified by their qualifications.

The four include three former military officials against whom orders were issued include NAB Lahore Director General (DG) Bhurhan Ali, NAB Quetta DG Tariq Mehmood and NAB Karachi DG Shab­bir Ahmed.

The fourth denotification order was ordered to be issued for NAB's DG of Awareness and Prevention Aliya Rashid, who was appointed on the recommendation of then prime minister Mir Zafar­ullah Jamali "in recognition of her services in the field of sports".

The court added that appointments to the now-vacant posts can be made through the federal public services commission.

Until the new appointments are made, NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has been given the authority to fill those posts on a temporary basis.

“The structure of the authority can only be strengthened through proper appointments,” Justice Amir Hani Muslim said.

During the hearing, the apex court said those denotified will remain "eligible for pension and all perks and privileges," in contrast to its repeated warnings in the preceding two hearings that it might withdraw all benefits from individuals who refused to take its early retirement deal.

The Secretary for Establishment Division, Tahir Shahbaz, told the court that of 137 employees whose appointments had been found to be irregular, 35 had accepted early retirement.

The court formed a committee to inquire into the educational qualifications of the remaining 102 officers of the bureau.

The committee, comprising of the Establishment secretary, a human resources representative from NAB and a member of the Federal Public Services Commission, will issue show cause notices to the employees of the bureau before listening to their testimonies.

The court has ordered the committee to submit a report within two months.

NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry had told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that of the nine officers whose initial appointment in the bureau suffered from “inherent disqualification”, three had declined premature retirement and intended to contest their case.

The NAB chairman had also told the court that Aliya Rashid had refused to opt for premature retirement.

A day earlier, the three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim had asked the NAB chairman to offer nine officers who were inducted without meeting the required qualifications the option of early retirement so they could avail benefits such as pension.

The case was initiated by former Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali on an anonymous letter drawing the court’s attention towards the appointment on deputation of 16 former military officers to posts in grades 21 and 22, out of a total 32 officers working in similar grades.