LAHORE, Oct 27: The Punjab government on Wednesday sacked 293 assistant public prosecutors (APPs) who had been recruited during the tenure of former chief minister Pervaiz Elahi.

Sources told Dawn the government had taken the decision to dismiss the APPs in the light of the Supreme Court’s verdict announced about six months back.

“The previous Punjab government had recruited a number of ineligible candidates against the seats of APPs throughout the province by violating the set criteria and ignoring the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) in this regard,” Chief Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Muhammad Jahangir told Dawn.

He said the department had planned to take action against the politically-recruited APPs last year, but most of them filed a petition against the government in the Lahore High Court. Earlier this year, he said, the court dismissed their plea, but the petitioners challenged the decision in the Supreme Court which decided the appeal in April, 2010, directing the government to first start hiring the new APPs through the PPSC and then dismiss the petitioners in two phases.

“Today we have received appointment orders of 186 new APPs recruited through the PPSC and termination orders of the 293 APPs. The rest of the seats will also be filled through the PPSC on merit,” he said. — KHALID HASNAIN