National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal in a written reply submitted in the Supreme Court on Saturday said that decision on corruption cases could not be possible within 30 days while the Bureau needed a number of additional accountability courts in Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Balochistan, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The NAB chairman said “It is a legal obligation to produce 50 witnesses in the court while the incumbent accountability courts are not enough to carry the burden of cases.”
“Several times the trial is delayed due to the burden of cases as each accountability court is hearing an average of 50 cases,” NAB chairman added.
He suggested retired judges can also be appointed if not 120 District and Sessions Judges and these retired judges can also be hired to hear appeals in the accountability courts.
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In the written reply submitted, the NAB chairman said, “The Supreme Court has stopped the use of voluntary refund and it resumed again, many cases will not reach the courts.”
“NAB courts strictly abide by the Criminal Code and due to miscellaneous petitions against accused and restraining orders of the high courts is also cause to delay in finalizing the cases. The high courts also do not follow the rules laid down by the Supreme Court for granting bail,” he further said.
The NAB chairman said that procedure for declaring the accused as wanted is also a time-consuming process and the delay in getting legal aid from abroad has also halted the case decisions.
Javed Iqbal said, “Word ‘political figures’ is misinterpreted by the courts and due to misinterpretation, it becomes difficult to explain the meaning of ‘political figures’ to foreign institutions.”
On July 8, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed had ordered the establishment of 120 new accountability courts in the country to speed up the hearing of corruption cases.
The chief justice ordered the law secretary to establish these new courts after taking directions from the relevant authorities. These courts should be set up in four months. Judges should also be appointed during this time, the CJP said.
The top judge ordered this while hearing a case on illegal appointments in a coal mining plant when he expressed his displeasure over NAB’s performance. He remarked the NAB cases were meant to be solved in 30 days but some cases have been pending for 20 years. “What’s the point of the Bureau and its laws when it can’t even implement them?”
Chief Justice Gulzar also ordered deciding the corruption cases and pending NAB references within three months, as he directed the attorney general, law secretary and NAB prosecutor general to appear in person on next hearing.
He also sought proposals from the NAB chairman on how to decide the pending references at the earliest. The very purpose of NAB law would be lost if the trial under a reference isn’t completed swiftly, the chief justice remarked.
The country’s top judge observed that 1,226 NAB references were currently pending which should be decided within 30 days. It seemed it would take a century to complete the trial of 1,226 references, he remarked.
Why the NAB references are not being decided, he questioned and added that the cases were pending or under trial for 20 years.
Why the NAB courts shouldn’t be shut and the law declared unconstitutional, said the chief justice and remarked that the NAB as an institution wasn’t functioning.
Chief Justice Gulzar also ordered the immediate appointment of judges in five accountability courts and warned that a strict action would be taken in case of not complying with the directives.