Ali Raza asked to relinguish post: procedure of re-appointment violative of the Constitution: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has held the procedure adopted by the federal government in appointing the President of National Bank of Pakistan as violative of the Constitution since the amendment in the Banks Nationalisation Act of 1974 were undertaken through the Finance Act (Money Bill) passed by the National Assembly, but without the assent of the Senate.
As a consequence, the re-appointment of Syed Ali Raza as President NBP, by Federal Government notification dated 10th April 2010, was declared null and void and he was relinquished his post forthwith.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry with Mr Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Mr Justice Khalilur Rahman Ramday, passed the judgement on a constitutional petition filed stating that under BNA 1974 a person could not be appointed President after two terms of three years each. Raza was appointed President for two terms - 2000 to 2003 and 2003-2006. The Federal Government then in 2006, first re-appointed Raza through Presidential Ordinances. Upon the lapse of the Ordinances twice, the government/parliament finally amended BNA Act 1974 through Finance Act 2007, seeking empowerment to appoint the President NBP.
The amendment in a law passed by both houses of the legislature cannot carry out by one house as part of the money bill, which is approved by the lower house alone, said the court. The Supreme Court refrained from passing any judgement on the rising incidence of NPLs in the bank as another bench is seized with the issue. It, also did not express any dissatisfaction on the operations of NBP. The court only struck down the process adopted by the government by saying "in our opinion, re-appointment of Chairman, the President or any other member of the Board of NBP does not fall within the ambit of clauses defining a money bill."
Thus, said the court, that amendments in clause (d) of sub-section (3) of Section 11 of the BNA 1974 by way of Finance Act, 2007 lacked constitutional propriety envisaged by Article 70 of the Constitution, ie approval by two houses of the Parliament. Upholding the petitioner's plea, the court held Syed Ali Raza's re-appointment dated 10-04-2010 as unconstitutional and ordered: "He shall cease to hold office as President NBP with immediate effect".
According to the petitioner, Muhammad Idrees, who is also an NBP employee, Raza got appointed for a third term as the Banks Nationalisation Act 1974 was amended by the then President, Pervez Musharraf, vide Banks (Nationalisation) Amendment Ordinance, 2006 (Ordinance No XII of 2006), which was promulgated on May 31, 2006. He pleaded the ordinance lapsed after four months of its promulgation but the finance ministry after the issuance of the Finance Act, mistakenly believed the amendment through the ordinance had become an Act. He said Raza was again appointed for a fourth term for one-year from July 1, 2009 to June 2010.
The petitioner said the bank chairman, president or any other members of the board of directors could be appointed for two terms of three years each and there was no provision for reappointing a president for a third or further terms by the Ministry of Finance. Meanwhile, the chief operating officer of NBP, Qamar Husain, has been given the charge of the bank on 'acting charge basis' by the federal government after due consultation with the SBP.