Today, the Supreme Court of Pakistan will announce its decision on the appeals filed by the federal and provincial governments. And provincial governments against the striking down of the amendments made into the National Accountability Bureau ( NAB ) laws. These amendments had been overturned earlier. And the government sought to appeal that position.
Timing of the Verdict The court says that it will issue its decision at 9:30 AM, as per the court working hours. Chief among them is Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who leads a boot of three justices. The bench had reserved its ruling on this case on the date of June 06, 2024.
Background on NAB Amendments The amendments came about during the regime of the Pakistan Democratic Movement government. These included amendments of sections of NAB ordinances sections 2, 4, 5, 6, 14, 15, 21, 23, 25, 26. These amendments were particularly notable because they changed the limits of NAB’s powers.
Petition filed by Imran Khan Imran Khan. The founder of the People’s Party of Pakistan ’expositione Tea dnl). Comes before the Supreme Court to contest against these amendments. Before the status quo was violated on September 05, 2023. A three member bench headed by then Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr. Umar Ata Bandial had reserved the judgment in the case. Most importantly, on September 15, 2023 the court also granted partial relief to Imran Khan. And declared nine amendments to the NAB laws void.
Government’s Appeal As a result of this decision most of the federal. And provincial governments conduced intra court appeals appealing against the judgment passed by the Supreme Court. The said appeals came up for hearing on May 10, 2024. The court formed a larger five-member bench, including additional judges, to hear the appeal. Imran Khan once again asked this bench to allow him to give evidence on oath. While participating in the proceedings of the court through video link.
Although the amendments introduced several changes, they still exempted various matters from the NAB timeline. The law, based on the establishment framework of the Bureau and inspired by the 1999 NAB Ordinance, reflects these adjustments. One of the notable amendments was that, the amount for which NAB can take up a case should be above 500 million PKR i.e. about 4 million US dollars. The amendments also limited NAB’s jurisdiction for investigating fraud cases to those involving more than 100 victims.
The Supreme Court will soon decide the fate of the NAB amendments, which have been a crucial legal issue. And political issue in Pakistan The supreme court prepares to announce the verdict.
