Supreme Court’s Justice Mansoor Ali Shah on Monday observed that members of the armed forces and judges of constitutional courts were “fully liable” under accountability laws.
He made this observation in a dissenting note for the apex court’s September 15 verdict wherein it struck down changes to the accountability laws and ordered the restoration of corruption cases against public office holders.
A three-member bench comprising then-chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Shah had announced the verdict on PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s 2022 petition challenging amendments made to the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) laws.
Justice Bandial and Justice Ahsan had declared Imran’s plea to be maintainable while Justice Shah had disagreed with the majority verdict, saying that not just the corruption cases but inquiries and investigations should also be restored.
In the hearings towards the end of the case proceedings, Justice Shah had repeatedly urged for a full court to hear the case, citing the then-frozen Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) law.
The top court is now set to hear the first-ever intra-court appeals (ICAs) against the majority judgement, which have been filed by the federal government and former SSGCL managing director Zuhair Ahmed Siddiqui.
In the detailed note issued today, Justice Shah concluded that Imran’s petition was “meritless”.
He noted that the petitioner’s counsel “utterly failed to clearly establish beyond any reasonable doubt that the challenged amendments in the NAB Ordinance are constitutionally invalid on the touchstone of ‘taking away’ or ‘abridging’ any of the fundamental rights”.
On the matter of members of the armed forces being held accountable, which had previously been discussed in multiple hearings of the case, Justice Shah noted that the “generally professed opinion that members of the armed forces and the judges of the constitutional courts are not triable under the anti-corruption criminal laws of the land, requires some clarification”.
He highlighted that such an understanding would “make the members of the armed forces and the judges of the constitutional courts untouchable and above the law”.
The same would be “reprehensible and revolting to the conscience of the people of Pakistan and bring the court into serious disrepute”, the judge added.
“We must, therefore, strongly shun the above generally professed opinion and be clear that members of armed forces and the judges of the constitutional courts are fully liable under the NAB Ordinance, like any other public servant of Pakistan,” he stated.
