ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Law has prepared a draft for the extension of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal’s tenure under the Presidential Ordinance, according to media outlets.
Several media outlets, while quoting sources, reported that the draft would be presented to President Arif Alvi after its approval from Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“Javed Iqbal will keep serving the post of NAB chairman till a new chairman is appointed”, a news report stated, adding that the tenure of a NAB chairman cannot be extended under Section 6 (b) of the NAB Ordinance 1999.
Earlier, Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem had rejected media reports and clarified that his ministry had not drafted an ordinance to extend the tenure of Justice (retd) Iqbal as the NAB chief.
He said that it was the prime minister’s prerogative to pick a person for the post of the head of the anti-corruption watchdog and that he could only give his advice on the issue.
Moreover, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry had said that the government will not be consulting Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif over the appointment of the NAB’s next chairman.
Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto said that his party would “forcefully oppose” the “illegal extension” in the tenure of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chief.
Bilawal maintained that the law specifies that the tenure may not be extended. He added that even if an extension was attempted for the incumbent NAB chairperson, it would prove his party’s position that NAB is “an extension” of the PTI government and “not impartial”.
