ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: The Supreme Court has summoned Attorney General Irfan Qadir to respond to a petition filed by Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan against the appointment of Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari as chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The court took up the petition exactly a year after the appointment, which was made on Oct 17, 2011.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani summoned the attorney general but did not fix the next date of hearing.

In his petition, Chaudhry Nisar claimed that the government had violated the NAB Ordinance by appointing Admiral (retd) Bokhari as NAB chairman without ‘meaningful’ consultation with the leader of opposition in the National Assembly.

Referring to an earlier case, he said: “The honourable court vide a judgment dated 10.03.2011 accepted this petition and most graciously declared appointment of Justice (retd) Syed Deedar Hussain Shah as Chairman, NAB, as being illegal and ultra vires and directed that a fresh appointment to the vacant office be made without delay.

“The pivotal ground for granting this relief was that the appointment of Mr Shah had been made without consultation with the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.”

The petitioner had informed the court that in reply to a letter from the president dated Oct 8 last year he had suggested that a “panel of possible candidates for NAB chairman should be drawn up mutually in the first instance and the nominee may be finalised after meaningful, purposive and consensus-oriented consultation”.

The opposition leader claimed that neither the president nor the prime minister had communicated to him any reason for not accepting his suggestion.

DEPUTY CHAIRMAN: Rear Admiral (retd) Saeed Ahmad Sargana has been appointed as NAB’s deputy chairman.

During his 36-year service in the navy, he served in various capacities, including principal staff officer at Naval Headquarters, deputy chief of naval staff and the Navy Board’s secretary. He also served as Rawalpindi NAB director general from 2002 to 2004.

The post of deputy chairman was vacant since Javed Zia Kazi’s resignation filed in July was accepted by the president on July 24.