ISLAMABAD — The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ruled that all cases arising under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999 should be heard by division benches, a stance that directly contradicts a previous interpretation by the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC).
The detailed verdict, authored by Justice Mohammed Azam Khan, emphasizes that NAB-related proceedings are not ordinary criminal or writ matters but deal with institutional accountability, protection of public funds, and constitutional guarantees of fair trial. The court said such cases carry significant constitutional and statutory complexities, requiring adjudication by more than one judge to ensure fairness and consistency.
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Citing Article 192 of the Constitution and the Islamabad High Court (Procedure) Rules, the IHC held that assigning NAO cases to a division bench serves as a “constitutional safeguard” to maintain judicial balance and uphold the integrity of the accountability process. The court also noted that Section 32 of the NAO mandates appeals from accountability courts to be heard by a division bench, reflecting the legislature’s intent for enhanced judicial scrutiny.
This interpretation clashes with the Rawalpindi bench’s April ruling, where Justices Jawad Hassan and Tariq Mahmood Bajwa concluded that constitutional petitions under the NAO could be heard by a single judge. They argued that the law only requires division benches for appeals against final judgments and that bypassing single judges could restrict litigants’ right to appeal under Article 10A of the Constitution.
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The conflicting rulings highlight a significant procedural divergence between the two high courts on how accountability cases should be handled in Pakistan’s judicial system.