KARACHI, June 8: There is no deputy attorney-general to look after the federal government’s briefs in the Sindh High Court.

There are three posts of deputy attorneys-general and three of federal government standing counsel.

There are at present only two standing counsel, Mahmood Alam Rizvi and Soofia Shah, and one federal counsel, Syed Tariq Ali, taking the entire workload of representing the federal government and its ministries and divisions in suits and petitions in the high court.

It was only for a short period in 2002 that Karachi had the full complement of DAGs but was two short of the sanctioned strength of standing counsel. Amir Hani Muslim, since elevated, Syed Zaki Mohammad, Khurshid A. Hashmi and Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui, also elevated since, pursued the federal government briefs as deputy attorneys-general and Syed Ziauddin Nasir served as the sole standing counsel. Having retired as standing counsel earlier, Mr Tariq Ali had rejoined as federal counsel.

When Mr Muslim was elevated to the bench, Sajjad Ali Shah and Mahmood Alam Rizvi were appointed standing counsel.

The former became a DAG when Mr Hashmi retired in 2004 at 65. Both the DAGs, Mr Shah and Mr Siddiqui, were elevated in 2004 while Mr Faisal Arab, who had joined as standing counsel in the meanwhile, also became a judge. Mr Zaki Mohammad retired in 2005. All the DAGs having been elevated or retired, there were three vacancies in 2005 but only Akhter Ali Mahmud was appointed to represent the federal government. He too retired in May 2007 on attaining the age of superannuation.

No retirement age has been prescribed for the attorney-general or deputy attorneys-general but since they are required to be qualified to hold the office of Supreme Court judge and SC judges retire at 65, they also retire at 65.

There is no bar on rehiring of a DAG or standing counsel (as federal counsel) on contract. Despite the importance of their assignment, DAGs are paid a monthly salary of Rs30,000 and standing counsel Rs25,000 per month.

Few senior lawyers are attracted to the post. For younger lawyers, it serves as a stepping stone to elevation.

Mr Ziauddin Nasir quit as a standing counsel in 2006 and Ashgar Nasim Faruqui, who replaced him, also resigned after undergoing surgery. In the absence of a DAG, two standing counsel and one federal counsel remain in the field to attend to the large number of cases on constitutional, civil, criminal, customs and corporate and other sides.