The Supreme Court on Thursday returned a petition challenging the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Ordinance, 2019 by raising objections on it.
The apex court refused to admit the petition for hearing on the premise that the petitioner, Farrukh Nawaz, has not approached any other appropriate forum before moving the top court. Nawaz took the amendments in the NAB law to the court, requesting it strike them down from being ultra vires of the constitution and suspend its operation till the final decision on the petition. He cited the Ministry of Law and Justice, Prime Minister Imran Khan, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) as respondents. The petitioner contended that President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated the ordinance on the advice of the federal government, which was in violation of different provisions of the Fundamental Rights as guaranteed in the Constitution. “The new law is against the principle of elimination of exploitation provided in Article 3 and also against the Rule of Law and Procedure as contained in Article 4,” he argued.