The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government to facilitate two National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials who had opted to take an early retirement in line with the apex court's directives a day earlier.

A three-member bench, headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, is hearing a sou motu case on irregularities in appointments and promotions made by the accountability watchdog.

In its hearing of the case on Monday, the court had ordered the authority's chairman to present the option of an early retirement to at least nine officials it found to be promoted in contravention of NAB's educational criteria.

Justice Muslim also warned that if the officers did not consent to early retirement, the court would be forced to rule against them, in which case they would not be able to benefit from the perks and benefits of formally resigning from their job.

The two officials who took the offer were assured Tuesday that they would be relieved with the perks and benefits associated with their position.

During the Tuesday hearing, NAB had submitted its own report on the issue before the bench, which included the intimation that two officials, DG NAB Karachi Naeem and DG NAB Lahore Tariq Naeem, had sought retirement under the court's deal.

The apex court also ordered the NAB chairman to accept the applications of two other officials who gave their consent to be repatriated to their parent departments from where they had been deputed to the accountability watchdog.

The parent departments will treat their seniority in accordance with the position of their batch mates, the court further ruled.

"NAB Assistant Director Quetta Mohammad Amir and Deputy Director Lahore Ansar Yakoob [the two repatriation to their parent department] should be promoted in their departments if their batch mates have been promoted," ruled the court.

The relevant department will have to decide on the applications of the two officers within 15 days, it added.

The court also announced that the bench will decide the matter for DG NAB Lahore Burhan Ali, DG NAB Balochistan Tariq Mahmood and DG NAB Karachi Munir Ahmed in its next hearing on Wednesday (tomorrow).

The bench also ordered the NAB chairman and the Establishment secretary to come up with a joint strategy for 48 other NAB officials in the court's crosshairs.