Daily Times

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Yawar Ali has constituted a three-member full bench to hear a petition challenging the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999, and conviction of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (r) Safdar in the Avenfield case.

The bench comprises Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza, Justice Sajid Mahmood Sethi and Justice Mujahid Mustaqeem Ahmad. The hearing date will be fixed later.

A single bench comprising Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi had on July 19 referred the main petition and an application moved by AK Dogar to the chief justice with observation that the legal points raised in the petition were important in nature and required to be decided by a larger bench.

In his petition, AK Dogarargued that Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (r) Safdar were convicted under a law which was dead now and as such accountability court had no jurisdiction to try and convict these leaders.

He said that millions of people had been suffering from the agony of proceedings under a law which was constitutionally non-existent now.He requested to suspend the operation of the accountability court’s judgment for being a court established under a non-existing law.

The LHC single bench had issued notices to attorney general of Pakistan and the federal law ministry on the petition challenging the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, being ultra vires of the several provisions of the constitution.

Dogar had said that the impugned ordinance was promulgated by then military dictator Pervez Musharraf under Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) No1 of 1999 as well as order No9 of 1999.He submitted that the Order No9 was promulgated only to amend PCO No1 of 1999 by inserting Section 5A (1) in it to the effect that limitation of 120 days prescribed under Article 89 of the constitution to any ordinance by the president will not be applicable to the laws made under PCO No1 of 1999.

He pleaded that under article 270-AA of the constitution, through the 18th constitutional amendment, the PCO No1 of 1999 was declared without lawful authority and of no legal effect. He asserted that once PCO No1 was declared without lawful authority and of no legal effect, the amendments in it made under Order No9 of 1999 would also stand lapsed and, therefore, the limitation period of 120 days prescribed under Article 89 will be applicable to the NAB ordinance.

He said that according to Sub-article 2 of Article 270-AA of the constitution, certain laws which were still enforced should continue to remain enforced unless amended by the competent legislation. He requested to declare that after the 18th amendment and insertion of Article 270-AA in the constitution, the NAB ordinance ceased to be the law and had become non-existent and a dead letter.

Published in Daily Times, August 5^th 2018.