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

Justice Asim Hafeez issued the interim order on a petition of Mr Awais.

Advocates Hamid Khan and Shafqat Mahmood Chohan appeared on behalf of the petitioner.

The lawyers argued that the caretaker government had no powers to terminate the advocate general. They 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.

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

An additional advocate general 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.

However, Justice Hafeez suspended the impugned notification and provisionally restored AGP Awais to his office.

The judge sought a written reply from the provincial government on the petition by Jan 30.

Through a notification issued on Jan 24, the caretaker government had removed AGP Awais and assigned a look-after charge to Additional Advocate General 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.

The government also appointed 55 new additional and assistant advocate generals.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2023