A two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday dismissed a petition challenging the appointment of Shahbaz Sharif as chairman Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah and comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani dismissed the petition as non-maintainable. The court had earlier reserved the verdict after hearing arguments from the petitioner’s lawyer.
The petitioner, Advocate Riaz Hanif Rahi, had contended before the court that former chief minister of Punjab, who is also opposition leader in the National Assembly, was not eligible to serve as PAC chairman.
He said issuance of his production orders by NA speaker was against the rules of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The lawyer of the petitioner argued that appointing Shahbaz as chairman of PAC was like “ridiculing the constitution”, thus IHC should dismiss the Opposition Leader of the National Assembly from the top post of PAC.
“Appointing corruption suspect Shahbaz as PAC chairman would influence the inquiry,” he asserted while mentioning that issuing production order for the president of PML–N to attend the National Assembly session, was also against the law of NAB.
Shahbaz Sharif is currently under the custody of NAB in connection to corruption cases. He was elected chairman of the PAC in a meeting of the committee at Parliament House in Islamabad on December 21.