LAHORE: A petition challenging the National Accountability Bureau (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, was refiled with the Lahore High Court (LHC) Monday.
The petition was re-submitted after removing the objections raised on it by the court’s registrar office.
The plaintiff requested the court to halt implementation of the bill until a final decision on the petition. The ordinance cannot be issued for a single person, he added.
The federal government and other ministries have been nominated as respondents.
President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated the ordinance earlier this month, paving the way to extend the tenure of the anti-graft agency chief.
Later, addressing a joint news conference along with Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Nasim said the president will appoint National Accountability Bureau chairman after consultation with the Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly.
Nasim said the government was bringing in a presidential ordinance to introduce some amendments in the NAB laws for more transparency and clarity.
He said the matter will be referred to a parliamentary committee to be constituted by the National Assembly speaker with equal representation from the treasury and the opposition benches if the consultation with the prime minister and the opposition leader does not remain consensus-oriented.
He said a provision has been inserted in the new ordinance deleting the word non-extendable.
