ISLAMABAD : The Supreme Court on Friday expressed displeasure over thefederal government for dragging its feet to fill the vacant post of theNational Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor general.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, who headed a bench of the apexcourt, was informed that the summary regarding appointment of the bureau’sprosecutor will be sent to the president, which is expected to be approvedby Tuesday.

He directed the government to appoint the new NAB prosecutor by Monday andsubmit a compliance report.

Earlier, the bench asked the federal law secretary to come up with anexplanation as to what efforts had been made to appoint the prosecutorgeneral.

The chief justice became visibly irked when he was informed that the NABprosecutor was not appointed despite the Attorney General’s assurances tothe court.

What was the government trying by delaying the appointment of the NABprosecutor, wondered the chief justice.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that the NAB chairman had recommended fivenames for the slot to the government, it was upon it to select a suitable,well reputed and efficient prosecutor from them.

At the previous hearing, the attorney general had sought one week’s timefor filling the vacant post of the NAB prosecutor general. He informed thejudges that a new prosecutor general will be appointed within a week.

Who was responsible for delay in the appointment of the NAB prosecutor,Justice Gulzar Ahmed asked, lamenting that it was unfortunate that thecountry lacked any policy.

The bureau’s prosecution department was suffering owing to absence of theprosecutor general, he observed and remarked the authorities were draggingtheir feet to fill the post to benefit someone. Why the law department wasnot fulfilling its responsibilities, the judge asked.

Orignally published by NNI