ISLAMABAD: Former chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari is filing an application in the Supreme Court on Monday, requesting the court to stop the process of appointment of a new chairman till his review petition is decided.

“We are filing the application on Monday in the Supreme Court so that the process of appointment of new chairman of the NAB being executed by the government could be stopped,” PPP leader Sardar Latif Khosa, who is pursuing the case of Admiral Bokhari, told Dawn on Sunday.

He said the whole process would be fructuous till the review petition filed by the former chairman was decided. Mr Bokhari was removed by the Supreme Court on May 28 when his appointment was declared illegal.

“We will also request the apex court to immediately form a bench to hear the review petition,” he said.

It is believed that the application will further delay appointment of NAB chairman.

NAB has almost been non-functional since the removal of its chairman by the court on a petition filed by former leader of opposition and incumbent Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, contending that no ‘meaningful’ consultation had taken place between him and the then PPP government on the appointment.

On July 2, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sought input from the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly to find a suitable individual for the top accountability office of the country.

The government, while initiating the process for the appointment, proposed the names of retired Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery and former federal secretary Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed.

Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah presented the names of retired Justice Rana Bahgwandas and retired Justice Sardar Raza.

Earlier, the PPP had suggested the name of Mamoon Qazi, another retired judge, but he declined to head the bureau due to health reasons.

It is believed that the government will keep its focus on the name of Khawaja Zaheer and the opposition will try to persuade it to appoint Justice Raza.