Former NAB chief files petition in IHC against PAC's decision to summon him

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal on Monday filed a petition against the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for summoning him before the committee.

 He also challenged the committee’s decision of limiting his position as the chairman of the missing person's commission.

The petition, which has been filed by him as the chairman of the Missing Persons Commission, argues that the minutes of the PAC’s meeting on July 7 should be declared "illegal" and that the committee be restrained from taking disciplinary action.

It further stated that according to the committee meeting’s minutes, Iqbal should be removed from the chairmanship of the commission on enforced disappearances. The petition added that issuing a direction to not hold office is beyond the commission’s jurisdiction and that the PAC’s chairman — Noor Alam Khan, who is a member national assembly and a PTI dissident — is misusing his powers.

The former NAB chairman has included the secretary of the interior, the secretary of the National Assembly, and the secretary of the Public Accounts Committee as parties in the petition.

It should be noted that a woman named Tayyaba Gul accused Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal and DG NAB Lahore Saleem Shehzad of sexual harassment and immoral behaviour during a meeting of the PAC, due to which the committee has summoned her in a public capacity.