ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the government to make appointments on vacant posts of the accountability courts.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, heard the suo moto notice case pertaining to delay in the proceedings of accountability courts.
During the course of proceedings, the court directed the government to fill the vacant post in Islamabad’s Accountability Court in one week while two vacant posts in Karachi’s Accountability Courts should be filled in two weeks.
The court also directed the government to start the consultation process about two posts of Peshawar’s Accountability Courts which would be vacant in June.
The Deputy Attorney General said that the summary of the NAB courts in Quetta and Lahore would be forwarded to the President on Thursday.
The Chief Justice asked how many cases were pending in the accountability courts?
The NAB prosecutor said that there were a total of 1226 cases being heard in accountability courts across the country.
The Chief Justice asked how many days required to dispose of these 1226 cases. He said that these cases should be resolved within six months. The Supreme Court disposed of over 50 cases a day, he added.
He said that many people were at the mercy of the accountability courts. He asked who was responsible for delaying the cases?
Addressing the NAB prosecutor, the Chief Justice observed that NAB’s investigation officers and other staff did not take interest to dispose of the cases. The NAB people did not have the experience to work, he added.
He said that the investigation officers did not know anything and the prosecutors did not understand the facts of case.
He asked whether NAB’s people were trained or not. The prosecutor responded that NAB was training its staff. He said that NAB was taking help from the Federal Investigation Agency and the government.
The Chief Justice asked the NAB Prosecutor General to focus on the quality, not on the number of references.
Justice Yahya Afridi asked how would the cases proceed when there were no judges in the accountability courts?
The Chief Justice remarked that it seemed that the high courts and the government did not agree on the appointment of judges in the accountability courts.
The Deputy Attorney General said that judges would be appointed soon in all the accountability courts.
The Chief Justice asked the Deputy Attorney General that the court was granting some time to appoint judges otherwise the apex court had to do something.
