The Supreme Court of Pakistan has settled an important constitutional question regarding the appellate forum for National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases, ruling that appeals and related bail matters falling under the newly established Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) must be heard by that court.
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A three-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan delivered the 30-page judgment on July 24, 2026. The dispute arose after the 27th Constitutional Amendment established the FCC and Section 32-A was added to the National Accountability Ordinance on March 5, 2026.
Under Section 32-A, a convicted person, or the Prosecutor General Accountability on the direction of the NAB chairman, may file a second appeal before the FCC within 30 days against a High Court judgment.
The central legal issue before the court was whether the Supreme Court could continue hearing bail applications in NAB cases after the main appellate jurisdiction had shifted to the FCC. Counsel for the accused argued that bail under Section 497 of the Criminal Procedure Code is an independent matter, while the attorney general and NAB maintained that the principal appeal and all related proceedings should remain before a single forum.
The Supreme Court agreed with the latter interpretation, holding that bail applications are ancillary to the main appeal and cannot be separated from it. The bench observed that dividing proceedings between two superior courts could create parallel litigation, conflicting rulings and legal uncertainty.
The judgment further stressed that judicial jurisdiction is determined solely by the Constitution and the law, not by the consent of the parties, past practice or public opinion. It also clarified that the creation of a statutory right of second appeal before the FCC does not deprive litigants of legal remedies but simply transfers those remedies to the constitutionally designated forum.
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The ruling establishes a uniform principle for all NAB cases, reinforcing that forum selection must follow constitutional and statutory provisions rather than the preferences of any party.