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Islamabad, July 27: Legal experts have termed the Ehtesab Bureau action of charging three prominent cricketers for their alleged involvement in betting as without jurisdiction and patently an illegal act.

Legal experts interviewed by Dawn, majority of them legal luminaries who held important government positions at different times, are unanimous in their opinion that the Ehtesab Bureau has absolutely no jurisdiction to ``charge'' the cricketers as the players are not public office holders.

Those interviewed by Dawn are Qazi Jameel, former judge and former Attorney General for Pakistan, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsen, opposition leader in Senate and prominent lawyer, Abid Hasan Minto, President of Supreme Court Bar Association, Khawaja Farooq Maita, senior supreme court lawyer, Barrister Khalid Javed Khan, Munir Paracha, an office bearer of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

They are of the view that Ehtesab Bureau derivesits jurisdiction from the Ehtesab Act and it cannot go beyond that. Ehtesab Bureau, they say, is nothing more than an investigation agency and it comes into action only when the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner refers any matter to it in relation to the corruption and corrupt practices committed by the public office holders.

The lawyers pointed out that under section 2 of the Ehtesab Act it has been defined as to whom the law is applicable. The law is applicable to prime minister, chief ministers, speakers of the nationalassembly, provincial assemblies, chairmanSenate, attorney general, ministers, advisors to the prime ministers and others.

The law is also applicable to those ``who held an office or post in Basic Pay scale 20 or above in the service of Pakistan or any service in connection with the affairs of the Federation or of a province or of a local council constituted under any Federal or Provincial law relating to the constitution of local councils or in equivalent of management in corporations, banks, financial institutions, firms, concerns, undertakings or any others institution or organization established, controlled or administered by or under the Federal Government or a provincial government.''

Abid Hasan Minto, president of Supreme Court Bar Association and prominent lawyer of the country said that prima facie the Ehtesab Bureau has no jurisdiction to look into the case of cricketers as they are not holders of public office.

He said that definition given in the Ehtesab Act shows that the law was applicable to the holders of public office. He, however, said that players were also employed in different government departments like PIA or banks and it was not clear whether playing in the national team was the extension of their duties with the department or not. He said till the time it was not clear what was the nature of the contract of the players with their department, it was difficult to give definite opinion. ``Prima facie it appears that Ehtesab Act is not applicable to thecricket players.''

Qazi Jameel, former attorney general said that players are not publicoffice holders and are not in the EhtesabAct's jurisdiction. He said if there is case of abetment of corruption or corrupt practice then the application of law is possible.

Aitzaz Ahsen, former interior minister said Ehtesab Bureau has absolutely no jurisdiction.''Ehtesab Bureau can investigate only those matters which are related to public office holders and the law is not applicable to the players.''

He said Ehtesab Bureau comes into action if it received any report from the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner, who too, could not create jurisdiction which was not provided under the law. ``The act of the EB is ultra vires, and illegal,'' he said.

``Two brothers are acting in tandem. It is sheer harassment of the players and if any of them [cricketers] approached the court of law, the action of EB would be suspended,'' he maintained.

Barrister Aitzaz said the players are neither public office holders nor they are in the service of Pakistan. ``Even if it is assumed that a player took money from a bookie he cannot be charged under the Ehtesab Act,'' he said.

Barrister Khalid Javed Khan said Ehtesab Bureau is totally devoid of jurisdiction to look into the matter. Hesaid technically the players, as employees of the different banks or corporation might fall in the jurisdiction of the Ehtesab Act, but the offence which is being attributed to them is not covered by the act.

He said under Section 15 of the Ehtesab Act, every reference has to be made by the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner. He said it is not clear whether any such reference was made, and even if it was made the Bureau, after investigating the matter, can refer back to the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner. The CEC would,then refer it to the Ehtesab Bench comprising two judges of the high court. The Ehtesab Bureau has no power to malign any person by making its findings public.

Khawaja Farooq Maita, senior advocate of the supreme court, said that the players were neither civil servants nor holders of public office and the Ehtesab Act was not applicable to them in any manner.

He said by such actions we were not only blackening our own faces, we also harassing our players who brought laurels to the country. In a country where lottery schemes and prize bonds were marketed by the government itself, how could the international players could be charged on the mere suspicion of fixing a particular match, he said.

He said the decision of the Ehtesab Bureau was ``patently illegal.'' The counsel wondered why the Ehtesab Bureau was showing ``indecent haste'' when the judicial commission appointed by the federal government was seized of the matter, and had recorded statements of Pakistani and Australian players.

Khawaja Farooq said there was no need for creating double jurisdiction, and feared that if two conflicting judgments were given by the committees probing the match fixing charges, there would be confusion.

Munir Paracha, another advocate of Supreme Court and an officeholder of Supreme Court Bar Association said that Ehtesab Bureau was a product of Ehtesab Act which had no jurisdiction on the cricket players. He said if PBC wanted Ehtesab Bureau to investigate some matter then it was a different matter.

He said that Ehtesab Act was enacted at great public demand for bringing the public office holders to the books. He advised the officials of the bureau to concentrate on their primary duty of making the public office holder accountable.