Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday sought asset details of Supreme Court judge Justice Mazahir Ali Naqvi within 15 days. The development comes amid the ongoing tug-of-war between parliament and the judiciary after the National Assembly last week asked the PAC to carry out a special audit of Justice Naqvi’s accounts and sources of income following corruption allegations against him. 13 out of 14 members of the PAC gave a go for the investigation with PTI Mohsin Aziz staying away at a meeting chaired by Noor Alam Khan. The PAC chairman said it was not a matter concerning JNaqvi only but corruption, adding that if members of his family had committed corruption, he would have chased them. The committee sought record of tax returns, wealth statement, plots allotted by ministry of housing, lands bought or sold, and foreign tours of Justice Naqvi. Noor Alam Khan instructed Auditor General Mansoor Awan to present a report on investigation of categorsiation of plots allotted and Nadra to provide details of Justice Naqvi’s family. The PAC chairman warned of issuing warrants for chief secretaries over their absence from the committee’s next meeting as Secretary Finance, Secretary Interior, provincial chief secretaries, NAB chairman, Nadra chairman had failed to make themselves available for the meeting.
Noor Alam Khan also expressed resentment over their absence saying he had a lot of pieces of evidence and wanted to test the integrity of civil servants. Justice Naqvi had come to the spotlight after Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah released an audio of an alleged conversation between the top court’s judge and former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi. Following the audio leaks, the Pakistan Bar Council announced that it would file a reference against Justice Naqvi. Later, the Sindh Bar Council and Balochistan Bar Council also filed references against him.
