LAHORE: The provincial law and parliamentary affairs department has once again restrained Advocate General of Punjab (AGP) Ahmad Awais from appearing before the courts on behalf of the government and assigned the responsibility of the office to Additional Advocate General (AAG) Jawwad Yaqoob.

In a memo written to Mr Awais, the law department’s section officer (Admin-III) said that the principal law officer had been asked by the department through four letters not to appear in the courts on behalf of the provincial government.

“Despite repeated directions you have continued to appear in the courts on behalf of the provincial government,” said the letter, which reiterated the direction for Mr Awais not to appear before the courts.

Separately, an order issued by the law department said AAG Yaqoob had been directed to dispose of the routine official business of the office of the advocate general in place of Mr Awais.

The order said AAG Yaqoob would also assign the cases to the provincial law officers till the appointment of the new advocate general. A copy of the order had also been sent to the registrars of the Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court.

Mr Awais told the media that he had prepared a reply on behalf of the government to be submitted before a larger bench hearing appeals against the oath of Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz. The bench is set to resume its hearing on Tuesday (today).

He said the reply prepared by him had been discarded.

The AGP said he would apprise the bench about the whole situation.

The law department had on May 10 sent a summary to the chief minister for the removal of AGP Awais.

Mr Awais had claimed that the law officer could not be removed without the approval of the governor.

The summary is still pending for a final approval by the governor. The office of the governor has also been lying vacant after the removal of Omar Sarfraz Cheema by the cabinet division. The new governor is likely to be appointed by Wednesday.

Mr Awais was appointed as AGP for a second time on July 29, 2020.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2022