The Lahore High Court on Tuesday sought reply from Advocate General Punjab by November 22 about the procedure for appointment of law officers in the province.
The petitioner Ch Shoaib Saleem advocate in his petition challenged the process of appointments of law officers and sought a direction to formulate a mechanism for the purpose beyond political consideration.
The petitioner-lawyer argued that law officers had been appointed on political consideration that remained loyal to ruling government instead of the state. He said the government's law lawyers drew salaries from taxpayer's money but defended a specific political government. He said appointment mechanism of law officers was not regulated by any rules or law and was totally dependent on the pleasure of the executive head of the government which in itself is against the fair exercise of discretionary appointments. He pleaded that professionalism could be introduced in the law officers if some procedure was adopted for the appointments at the advocate general office through proper advertisements, written tests or interviews.
Earlier, Additional Advocate General Anwar Hussain argued that chief minister of the province enjoyed discretionary powers under Article 140 of the Constitution to make appointments at the advocate general office. He said the Supreme Court had already decided a similar matter in many judgments upholding the powers of the executive.
On Thursday, parawise comments were filed by the secretary law department. However, Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh also directed the Advocate General Punjab to submit his reply in the petition and adjourned the case for November 22.
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