President Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday sent back National Accountability (Amendment) Bill 2023 to parliament for reconsideration stating that previous amendments to the accountability law were sub-judice.
The president took action in terms of clause (1) (b) of the Article 75 of the Constitution, President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release.
The president said that this aspect of the legislation was neither referred to in the bill nor in the prime minister’s advice.
He observed that without considering the implications of a pending matter, further amendments in the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 should be reconsidered.
Earlier, the prime minister had sent his advice seeking assent of the president over the said bill.
The National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2023 sought amendments to several sections of the NAB Ordinance, among which those to sections 4 and 6 stand out the most.
An amendment to section 4 of the NAB law states: “If the chairman is satisfied that no case is made out against an accused and the investigation may be closed, he shall refer the matter to the Court for approval and for the release of the accused, if in custody.
“Where the chairman is of the opinion that prima facie case is made out against an accused under any other law for the time being in force, he shall refer the matter to the relevant agency, authority or department, as the case may be,” it further states.
Under a provision added to Section 6 of the NAB Ordinance, as and when the office of the NAB chairman falls vacant or when the chairman is absent or unable to perform the functions of his office — due to any action whatsoever — the deputy chairman shall act as the NAB chairman and in absence of deputy chairman, the federal government shall appoint an acting chairman from amongst the senior officers of NAB.
The bill further says that due to the amendments made to the NAB law last year, “some legal complications have arisen for transfer of those cases from the accountability courts to other courts, tribunals, and forums which do not fall within the domain or jurisdiction of the NAB Ordinance”.
“On the initiative of the Prosecutor General Accountability and after having the input of relevant stakeholders, certain further amendments in the NAB Ordinance are required to be made urgently to provide legal cover to the accountability courts for transfer of aforesaid cases”, reads the statement of objects and reasons of the bill.
