Corruption hindering justice: CJ

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Tuesday remarked that the common man could not able to access justice due to corruption in society. “It will not be appropriate for the top court to wait for the approval of the NAB ordinance as it is hearing the case since long,” he observed during the hearing of a petition of PTI Chairman Imran Khan against amendments to the NAB laws. The chief justice remarked whether making assets beyond known sources of income was still a crime as per the NAB law? The lawyer's response to the question was in affirmative. He observed that the amendment in the law of plea bargain was also a good act. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah asked whether there was any legal precedent for applying the amendments in the law from the past and which countries of South Asia the institutions like NAB were working? During the course of proceedings, the federal government's Lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan submitted the draft of the NAB amendment ordinance 2023 to the bench and said that the new amendments in the NAB law had been proposed in Section-V and others which was with the president for the formal approval. The lawyer said that the changes were introduced in the powers of the NAB chairman through the amendments and now he had to take the approval of the court to quash any case. “The court can adjourn the case until the approval of the law by the president,” he said. Counsel Makhdom Ali said that debate on corruption and court interference was not only limited to Pakistan. According to an international journal, two political parties were fighting in the US to get control of the judiciary. The lawyer said that Imran Khan-led government had introduced amendments to the NAB law in 2019 for political victimisation and several renowned politicians were arrested. “The amendment was withdrawn in 2021 through an ordinance,” he added. Makhdoom Ali Khan said that the government had made corruption a difficult practice through the fresh amendments to NAB. He said that the government had just restored the amendments which were withdrawn in the PTI's regime. The hearing of the case was then adjourned till tomorrow. A three-member larger bench of the top court heard the case. 

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