SUNDAY TIMES ISLAMABAD: The bench headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah and comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani will announce the verdict today at 12:00pm. It had earlier reserved the verdict after hearing arguments from counsels for the petitioner and the government.

The petitioner, Advocate Riaz Hanif Rahi, had contended before the court that Sharif, who is also opposition leader in the National Assembly, was not eligible to serve as PAC chairman. He said issuance of his production orders by NA speaker was against the rules of the National Accountability Bureau .

The lawyer of the petitioner argued that appointing Shehbaz as chairman of PAC is like “ridiculing the constitution”, thus IHC should dismiss the Opposition Leader of the National Assembly from the top post of PAC.

“Appointing corruption suspect Shehbaz as PAC chairman would influence the inquiry,” he asserted, while mentioning that issuing production order for the president of Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz to attend the National Assembly session, was also against the law of NAB.

The PML-N leader is currently under the custody of NAB in connection to corruption cases.