PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has adjourned for an indefinite period the hearing into a petition against changes to the Act on the law officers’ appointment, citing a related issue pending with the Federal Constitutional Court.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Babar Sattar declared that the petition, filed by citizen Nasrullah Khan, would be heard only after the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) decided the matter and that, too, at the formal request of the petitioner or respondents.

“Since the petitioner has also submitted a complaint against one of the members of the National Assembly (Sohail Sultan) and the matter is now pending with the Federal Constitutional Court; any decision on this petition may have a bearing on the proceedings before the Hon’ble Federal Constitutional Court. As such, this petition is adjourned sine die and shall be restored on the application of either party, after the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court in the matter,” it pronounced.

The petition has challenged amendments made to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Appointment of Law Officers Act, 2014, by the provincial government through the KP Appointment of Law Officers (Amendment) Act, 2024.

Petitioner claims Act amended to benefit lawmaker facing disqualification

The petitioner claimed that the impugned changes to the law were made to benefit PTI MNA Sohail Sultan, whose election in 2024 had been challenged in the Election Commission of Pakistan.

He claimed that the MNA in question had served as assistant advocate general until he was removed from that post by the provincial government through a notification on March 10, 2023.

The petitioner said that Article 63 (k) of the Constitution expressly disqualified any person who had been in service of Pakistan unless a period of two years had elapsed since he ceased to be in such service.

Advocate Sultan Mohammad Khan appeared for the petitioner and said that his client had filed a reference with the speaker of the National Assembly for disqualifying the MNA Sohail Sultan on the ground that he was not qualified to contest the general elections and his election was unconstitutional.

He said that the reference was referred by the NA speaker to the Election Commission of Pakistan for decision on Oct 7, 2024, and subsequently the commission had started proceedings over it.

The lawyer said the MNA moved the PHC against the ECP proceedings but his plea was rejected by the court on Dec 18, 2025.

He added that the MNA later challenged the matter with the FCC.

Mr Sultan said that through the impugned amendment to the law, a new section, 8-A, was inserted, declaring that the service of a law officer, who was appointed or had been appointed under the Act earlier, should be excluded from the Service of Pakistan.

He added that that the amendment would be applicable with retrospective effect from 2014.

“The amendments were made with mala fide intentions to remove the post of an assistant advocate general from the definition of ‘Service of Pakistan,’ and help that MNA to avoid disqualification,” he insisted.

The counsel contended that the Supreme Court, in its 1998 judgements in the “Muhammad Khursheed Khan versus Returning officer’ case, had declared in clear terms that the office of the assistant advocate general was an “office of profit in the service of Pakistan connected to the affairs of the state”.

The bench observed that as the related matter was pending with the FCC, it would be appropriate to adjourn the hearing into the instant petition until the time the FCC decided the matter.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2026