ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday dismissed a petition filed against the appointment of retired Justice Syed Asghar Haider as prosecutor general (PG) of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

A single-member bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani dismissed the petition after hearing the petitioner’s counsel Shahid Kamal Khan as well as the additional attorney general Tariq Mehmood Khokhar who was representing the ministry of law and justice and NAB’s additional prosecutor general Jahanzeb Bharwana.

Raja Mohammad Umair Khan filed the petition before the IHC through his counsel advocate Shahid Kamal Khan.

Arguing before the court Khan said the respondent authorities including law ministry, Establishment Division and NAB had violated by appointing Mr Haider as NAB prosecutor general.

He argued that Haider served as judge of Lahore High Court from 2006 to 2009 and under Article 207 sub-article (3), “it is provided that a person who has held office as a permanent judge, retired judge of the high court; (a) of the Supreme Court, shall not plead or act in any court or before any authority in Pakistan; (b) of a high court, shall not plead or act in any court or before any authority within its jurisdiction.”

He maintained that prosecutor general had appointed under section 8 of National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999.

“The crux of the matter is that the prosecutor general is the Principal Law Officer of NAB who must have the eligibility to appear before the courts established under National Accountability Ordinance and all other courts, meaning thereby that the prosecutor general should have not any type of embargo or restriction on his appearance as an advocate before any court,” the petition stated.

The NAB’s additional prosecutor general adopted before the court that the office of NAB prosecutor general is a constitutional post and his appointment has been made for a specified period in accordance with law.

Additional attorney general Tariq Khokhar also defended the appointment of Haider as PG NAB.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2019