In a landmark judgment on Sunday, Chief Ehtesab Commissioner, justice Ghulam Mujaddid Mirza, ruled he had the authority to get corruption cases against Sharif, his brother Shahbaz Sharif and accountability bureau chief Saifur Rehman, a close Sharif aide probed by any other agency.

``It would be a mockery of justice in case I was to mark the references or complaints to the chairman of Ehtesab (accountability) cell (rehman) for inquiry or investigation which are against him,'' Mirza's 15-page judgment said.

The judgment, which sets aside the law ministry's recommendation that the bureau headed by Rehman alone could probe such cases, came as a shock to the ruling party. But opposition parties hailed it with Benazir Bhutto terming it as avindication of her stand against the manner in which corruption cases were being dealt with.

The judgment was passed following a number of petitions from various quarters, including Bhutto, who is facing several corruption cases before the accountability bureau and has in turn filed references in corruption cases against Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and Saifur Rehman.

The judgement in fact set the ground rules to probe corruption cases against the top leadership of the present government as justice Mirza said in the ruling, ``cases shall continue to be marked to the Ehtesab cell for inquiry/investigation as envisaged by the section 15 of the Ehtesab act, with the exception of those cases where the rules of natural justice are violated''.

``It would be awkward and inconvenient for Ehtesab cell to deal with such types of cases,'' as, ``no one can be a judge in his own cause,'' Justice Mirza said in the judgment as he went on to add while interpreting the Ehtesab act that, ``it (the act) authorises the CECto mark cases to any agency other than Ehtesab cell.''

He further clarified that, ``CEC has the power to have the investigation carried out through any agency independent of the Ehtesab bureau and there is no limitation on his power on that behalf''.

The Chief Ehtesab Commissioner (CEC) through this judgment has established the independent nature of the office as now it will be authorised to probe corruption cases against the highest functionaries of the government.

The judgement was passed following a long hearing on the petitions during which counsels of different petitioners argued before the CEC including Benazir Bhutto's counsel, Babar Awan. But no one appeared on behalf of the prime minister and others in the government.

``I demand the prime minister and his brother (chief minister of Punjab) and others, to be brave and appear before the courts for their defence,'' Babar remarked after the passing of the judgement.

Justice Mirza also pointed out in his judgement the rampant corruptionprevailing in the system saying, ``unfortunately corruption at present is rampant. It has reached the stage where corruption has been converted into `legal demand', where a law abiding citizen cannot get his legal right enforced without meeting the ubiquitous demand of illegal gratification.''

He further said that in such a state of affairs compliance with the rules of natural justice must be kept in view as ``that is the only way of salvation and that is how law and order can be maintained and a citizen can get justice and thereby repose confidence in the adminstration of justice and truth''.

Reacting to the judgement Benazir Bhutto has said in a statement that it has vindicated the stand of her party that the on-going process of accountability through special laws was ``politically motivated, one-sided and partisan''.

Encouraged by the judgement Benazir's Pakistan People's Party has decided to file one more reference in a corruption case against Nawaz Sharif.