ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan will announce its reserved verdict on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendments case on Friday.
A five-member SC bench, led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and including Justices Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Athar Minallah, and Hasan Azhar Rizvi, reserved its decision on the federal government’s intra-court appeal after hearing arguments from all parties on June 6.
During the last hearing, jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who challenged the amendments, participated via video link from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi and completed his arguments.
The SC had previously struck down the amendments to the NAB laws, approving Khan’s petition challenging the changes made by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government. In a 2-1 majority decision, the court also reinstated graft cases against public officials that had been closed due to these amendments.
Following this decision, the federal government filed a review plea under the SC Practice and Procedure Law, naming the Federation of Pakistan, NAB, and PTI founder as respondents. The federal government argued that the amendments did not violate basic rights and emphasized that legislation is within Parliament’s purview.
The review plea contends that the court’s earlier decision failed to consider this legislative right and reflects a misunderstanding of the situation.
On May 28, Acting President Yousuf Raza Gilani approved an ordinance amending the NAB law to allow for a 40-day physical remand of accused individuals, up from 14 days.
The new NAB (Amendment) Ordinance 2024 also reduced the sentence for officers convicted of framing cases from five years to two years.
