Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday directed authorities to submit the details of the assets of Justice Mazahar Ali Naqvi, a Supreme Court (SC) judge, within 15 days.

The PAC, which oversees public spending, was tasked with the case of Justice Naqvi — who is facing allegations of keeping assets beyond means — by the National Assembly last week.

Deputy Speaker Zahid Akram Durrani had referred the matter to the PAC for investigation and audit under Rule 199 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007, with the directive to complete the task within 15 days.

Rule 199, ‘Reference to Standing Committee’ reads: “Except as otherwise provided in these rules, the Assembly or the Speaker may remit to the standing committee any subject or matter with which it is concerned and the standing committee shall study such subject or matter with a view to suggest legislation or making recommendations to the Assembly.”

The action was taken on the demand of the ruling PML-N leader and federal minister Sardar Ayaz Sadiq during the National Assembly’s sitting on May 4 with the directive to come up with a report within 15 days.

The PML-N leader had raised the issue on a point of order during the question hour as lawmakers continued their assault on superior court judges in the wake of the ongoing executive-judiciary tussle over the issue of elections to the Punjab Assembly.

Four references are pending against Justice Naqvi before the Supreme Judicial Council in which he has been accused of “misconduct”, “misuse of authority” and keeping the assets beyond known sources of income.

One of the complaints also mentioned a number of audio clips, including the one featuring a conversation purportedly between the judge and former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi pointing out that the tone of the conversation reflected a rather intimate and close relationship between the two.

During the PAC meeting today, PTI dissident Noor Alam Khan — who heads the committee — took up Justice Naqvi’s case and directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to submit the details of the judge’s tax returns and assets.

He also sought details of the plots owned by Justice Naqvi, his travel history, wealth assessment records and details of the judge’s family members.

Alam gave all the authorities concerned 15 days for submitting the aforementioned details before the committee. “I know the chief justice also cares for the country,” he further remarked.

During the meeting, PML-N MNA Barjees Tahir assured the PAC chairman of his party’s support, while PTI’s Nuzhat Pathan stated that the bureaucracy “believes this is a fight between Parliament and the judiciary”.

PTI Senator Mohsin Aziz also contended that parliamentarians were being used to pursue the case against Justice Naqvi.

Meanwhile, the PAC chairman also took notice of the absences of government officials — such as provincial secretaries — during today’s meeting and warned that warrants would be issued for them if they missed more meetings.

PAC divided over taking up case against SC judge

Earlier, Dawn had reported that the PAC was divided over taking the case up the case against Justice Naqvi.

A number of PAC members stated that they believed that the case of the SC judge did not fall in the domain of the PAC and if the government had any evidence against a judge, it should properly file a reference against him in the SJC.

“This is not the domain of the PAC. The Constitution provides a mechanism for the judges’ accountability through the SJC,” said PML-N Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed while talking to Dawn.

The PML-N senator said the government should not repeat the same mistake committed by the previous PTI regime which had moved a similar reference against Justice Qazi Faiz Isa and which backfired. He said they should simply follow the Constitution, instead of setting new and wrong precedents.

Similarly, Dr Ramesh Kumar of the PTI said he had already discussed the matter with a number of PAC members and some of them were of the view that taking up the individual cases did not fall in their domain. He, however, said there were many members in the 28-member PAC, who believed that they could take up the matter as it was related to the financial benefits which the judges were availing through the national exchequer.

Dr Kumar said if there was any wrongdoing in the tax returns of the judge, the FBR should intimate the cabinet, which could then recommend formally moving a reference against that judge in the SJC.

Senator Saleem Mandviwala of the PPP also said it was not the domain of the PAC to take up individual cases. The job of the PAC, according to Mandviwala, was only to examine the audit reports sent to it by the auditor general of Pakistan.