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ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court on Monday adjourned hearing of a petition filed by the government against the court`s verdict of declaring the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) illegal till tomorrow, DawnNews reported.
According to sources the apex court refused the request of senior government counsel Kamal Azfar of withdrawing advocacy from the case, as he argued that the government did not approached him yet.
Azfar asked for time to consult the centre before pleading the case, as the bench refused any other counsel for presenting it.
“I will surely be in the Supreme Court because it is the direction of the court, but I don`t know what I will be pleading because the government has not yet approached me,” Mr Azfar told Dawn on Saturday.
The chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry notified Azfar that the court would reject the review petition if he was not able to plead.
The additional attorney general asked the bench to allow him to represent government in the case but was refused and was told to ‘sit down on his seat.’
Azfar asked for more time as he needed directions from government to present evidences.
After a respite of over five months the government is again in the eye of the storm as a 17-judge full court resumed the hearing on Monday of the review petition against the NRO verdict.
Mr Azfar, who had pleaded the case in the main petition against the NRO, was replaced by Sardar Latif Khosa who took the charge after Mr Azfar was made adviser to the prime minister on disaster management.
However, court rules make it mandatory that a lawyer who argues the main case pleads the review petition.
Since Mr Khosa has been made governor of Punjab after the assassination of Salman Taseer on Jan 4, he will not be available to plead the government case.
