LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday admitted for regular hearing a petition challenging fresh amendments made to the National Accountability (Amendment) Act, 2022 through an ordinance and issued notices to the federal government.

The petitioner’s counsel, Azhar Siddique, argued that certain provisions of the NAB law had been amended through an ordinance without fulfilling the requisite criteria as there was no emergent situation for issuance of such an ordinance.

He said since the parliament was operational, the amendment to the law was just a way to pressurise PTI founder Imran Khan. The lawyer said that issuance of the ordinance by the acting president spoke volumes about the fact that it was politically motivated. He asked the court to set aside the impugned ordinance.

Deputy Attorney General Tahir Mahmood Khokhar argued that although the new amendments were not under challenge before the Supreme Court but the question relating to the period of remand of an accused arrested under the 1999 ordinance was directly sub-judice before the apex court. He said any decision by the apex court would have a direct bearing upon the amendment to Section 24 of the amendment Act, 2022; therefore, the high court could not conduct parallel proceedings.

The law officer further argued that the powers of the acting president to issue an ordinance could not be questioned, especially when the president was out of the country.

Justice Shujaat Ali Khan observed that the contentions made by both sides needed consideration. The judge directed the respondents to submit replies after summer vacations on Sept 17.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2024