Supreme Court judge releases his dissenting note in NAB amendments case

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of the Supreme Court (SC), who had disagreed with the apex court’s verdict on the petition filed against amendments made to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999 by parliament, on Monday released his 27-page note of dissent, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

In the note, Justice Mansoor said it categorically that judiciary could not interfere in the internal affairs of parliament, and that the courts could only scrutinize any legislation when it was contradictory to fundamental human rights.

The judge was of the view that scrutinizing any law under the impression that the lawmakers might have enacted it to serve their vested interests amounted to an ‘insult' to parliament as well as democracy.

Defending his right to dissent, he argued that the judge disagreeing with the majority view was not swayed by an opinion of a mob, but he had his eyes set on future. “Courts don’t have to follow popular political narrative,” he said, adding, “Instead courts have to give decisions as per the constitution even if it means going against the public opinion.”

Going one step forward, Justice Mansoor went on to say that nobody even had the right to challenge any bill passed by the parliament. “In a democracy, it is the majority view which holds sway,” he opined.

He further said that if a law had been enacted by a majority of parliamentarians, it meant that the entire parliament had enacted it.

The SC by accepting former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s petition, had on September 15, 2023 struck down the NAB amendments by 2 to 1.

The apex court, in its decision, ordered the reopening of all corruption cases worth less than Rs500 million that were closed after the passage of amendments.

Furthermore, the top court directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to return all case records to the relevant courts within seven days.

 

Reporter: Amanat Gishkori