Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday adjourned till January 11 hearing of the petition filed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan against amendments in National Accountability Bureau (NAB)’s law.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial heard the petition. During the course of proceedings, federal government’s lawyer Makhdom Ali Khan argued that there were no important points in the petitions to be answered. A law could only be terminated when there was no other option, he said, adding that the institutions including Parliament, executive and judiciary should work in their defined limits. The judiciary was not given powers in the constitution to terminate a law, he added.
The Supreme Court had granted this authority to the judiciary through a judgment, he said, adding that this authority was also conditional. Makhdom Ali Khan said that the legislation was also challenged under ‘shariah’ but the top court could not evaluate it under ‘shariah’ rules as the only forum for this was Federal Shariat Court. The lawyer said that legislation is the domain of Parliament, and judiciary could not interfere into it. The top court, in its judgments, had also declared that court could not raise question on the intention of the House. Since 1947 the burden of proof was always on the shoulders of the complainants, he said. The chief justice questioned that what should be the strength of members in the House at the time of voting and how many members of parliament were in attendance at the time of NAB amendments. The lawyer said that no law was terminated till this day for not being approved by a majority of members. The court would resume hearing of the case today.
