LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday suspended an order passed by the caretaker government about removal of Advocate General Punjab (AGP) Ahmad Awais and reinstate him to his office.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that the caretaker government had no powers to terminate the advocate general. He said a caretaker government could not perform functions of an elected government as it was formed to assist the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold fair and free elections only.

He asked the court to set aside the removal of the advocate general being unlawful.

A law officer opposed the petition saying the principal law officer was supposed to work till the pleasure of the chief minister. He asked the court to dismiss the petition as not maintainable.

The court however restored AGP Ahmad Awais provincially and sought reply from the provincial government by January 30.

The caretaker government had removed AGP and assigned a look-after charge to a law officer Muhammad Jawad Yaqoob.

The government had also removed law officers including 32 additional and 65 assistant advocate generals. The LHC had restored some of the law officers who challenged their removal.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023