A bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday dismissed a petition of Director General NAB Shahzad Saleem against notices calling him in for the Public Accounts Committee hearing. Acting Chief Justice Aamir Farooque heard a petition in which the Secretary of the National Assembly, PAC Wing, and others were made parties. NAB Director General Shahzad Saleem has approached the Islamabad High Court against the Public Accounts Committee’s decision to summon him in the wake of sexual harassment allegations levelled by Tayyaba Gul."PAC goes beyond its mandate to summon the D.G. NAB. "The court should declare the PAC notice as void," NAB prosecutor Jahanzeb Bharwana argued.
"The cases of allegations have been pending in the courts." The PAC has served another notice," the NAB counsel said. "The Supreme Court has, in its observations relevant to the case, said that the court could intervene in malicious steps," Justice Aamir Farooque remarked. Deputy Attorney General Khawaja Imtiaz said that the parliamentary committee’s proceedings could not be challenged in court. The apex court’s decision could not be applied in this case, DAG said. "The PAC proceedings are exempted from judicial review." He added "When the Speaker and the Chairman of the Senate are being served notice, why not the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee?" When NAB prosecutor Bharwana pleaded for suspension of the PAC summons, Justice Aamir questioned
The bench rejected the plea seeking suspension of the notice and issued notices to the PAC and other parties.The court adjourned further hearings in the case till July 27. It is to be mentioned here that the acting chairman of the NAB also challenged the mandate of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the IHC yesterday. The Public Accounts Committee in its proceedings on June 24 went beyond its mandate, the NAB chief said in his petition.He pleaded to the court to declare the minutes of the PAC meeting on July 7 as void and restrain the parliamentary body from any action.
Credit:Independent News Pakistan-INP
