The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendments plea, allowing parties involved to submit further written arguments within a week, Aaj News reported.
A five-member bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa heard the case. The bench also included Justices Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Athar Minallah and Azhar Hasan Rizvi.
The verdict has been reserved on the federal and provincial governments’ pleas, challenging the apex court’s September 15 majority 2-1 judgment, which was announced by a bench led by former chief justice Umar Ata Bandial.
Amendments were made to the accountability laws by the then-Pakistan Democratic Movement-led (PDM) government in 2022. They included reducing the term of the NAB chairman and prosecutor general to three years, limiting NAB’s jurisdiction to cases involving over Rs500 million, and transferring all pending inquiries, investigations, and trials to the relevant authorities.
PTI founder Imran Khan challenged the amendments in the top court, claiming that the changes to the NAB law were made to benefit the influential accused persons and legitimise corruption.
The apex court after hearing the case for about three months, annulled tweaks to the NAB Ordinance and ordered the reopening of graft cases against public office holders that were closed down following the amendments.
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