LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Thursday told the Lahore High Court that Advocate General Ahmad Awais was ready to resign following a contempt notice issued to him by the court on contemptuous conduct during the announcement of a verdict against new Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Model Town incident.

“I held a meeting with the advocate general today on the issue and he offered me to tender his resignation,” said the chief minister when asked by a three-judge full bench whether he had any knowledge of the contempt proceedings against the top law officer of the province.

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.

Buzdar says govt will appoint another law officer in Model Town JIT case

Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan and Justice Aalia Neelum were other members of the bench.

Reminding the chief minister of the advocate general’s conduct, the bench lamented that the AG remained failed to file his reply despite a considerable lapse of 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 the 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. He told the chief minister that the situation created by the advocate general was unprecedented in the history of the LHC.

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.

To a bench’s query, Chief Minister Buzdar stated that a new counsel/law officer would soon be appointed for the representation of the government in the case.

The bench adjourned hearing of the main case till April 19 enabling the government to appoint any other law officer as its new counsel while reserved decision on the contempt matter against the advocate general. The bench also directed the official respondents in the case to submit their replies by the next hearing.

On March 22, the bench with a majority decision of two to one had suspended the JIT formed by the 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 the 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.

Mr Awais engaged senior bar leader Hamid Khan as his counsel and submitted two replies to the contempt notice, however, the bench rejected both as they did not carry any apology.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2019