SC declares appointments of NAB Chairman, PG illegal

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared the appointments of Chairman and Prosecutor General of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as unlawful and directed the government to make new appointments within a month. During the hearing of petitions challenging the 18th Amendment, the court observed that the tenure of the office could not be extended nor an acting chairman of the NAB could be appointed. Earlier, Advocate Khawaja Harris challenged the appointments of acting chairman NAB Javed Qazi and PG Irfan Qadir contending that none of the official could become an acting chairman of the organization. The petitioner added that Irfan Qadir had worked on the same position for three years and as per NAB rules he could not join the same slot for twice. A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Ramday and Justice Ghulam Rabbani reserved the decision on the case.