A full bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday reserved its verdict in a contempt of court proceedings against the Advocate General Punjab (AGP) when Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar told the court that AGP Ahmad Awais was ready to resign. The court had issued a contempt notice to AGP on his 'contemptuous' conduct during announcement of a verdict against new Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on the Model Town incident.
The bench adjourned the hearing to April 19, enabling the government to appoint any other law officer. The bench also directed the official respondents in the case to submit their replies by the next hearing. The bench when asked the Chief Minister Punjab whether he had any knowledge of the contempt proceedings against the AGP, he said: "I held a meeting with the advocate general today on the issue and he offered me to tender his resignation".
CM Buzdar, Law Minister Raja Basharat, the chief secretary, secretary for law and other high officials appeared before the bench on a short notice. AGP Awais was also present in the courtroom. Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan, who headed the bench, told the Chief Minister that the bench wanted to ask him whether he was going to appoint any other law officer as the government's counsel in the case against the JIT as AGP Awais had failed to submit any satisfactory reply to the contempt notice.
Chief Minister Buzdar stated that a new counsel/law officer would soon be appointed for the representation of the government in the case. Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan and Justice Aalia Neelum were the other members of the bench. Reminding the Chief Minister of the advocate general's conduct, the bench lamented that the advocate general remained failed to file his reply despite the lapse of a considerable time.
The bench observed that the job of the province's first law officer was to assist the courts on law points irrespective of his previous affiliation to any political party. Justice Qasim Khan also noted that in past the governments used to have consultation with the Chief Justice of the LHC for the appointment of the advocate general. However, the judge observed it appeared that the incumbent government ignored this tradition.
Justice Neelum said the bench had showed maximum restraint while issuing the contempt notice to the advocate general as many facts of the incident were not mentioned in the order to protect dignity of the institutions. She regretted that no action had been taken against the law officers who chanted political slogans in the courtroom. On March 22, the bench with a majority decision of two to one had suspended the JIT formed by Punjab government to hold a fresh probe into the Model Town incident.
Khurram Rafiq and other police officials, facing trial in the Model Town case, challenged the legitimacy of the new JIT. At the time of the announcement of the suspension order, AGP Awais along with other law officers had created a scene in the courtroom and lodged protest against the verdict on a pretext that the office of the advocate general received no notice from the court about the proceedings. The bench had taken strong notice of the conduct and issued a contempt notice to the advocate general.