LAHORE, April 1: The NAB authorities in the Punjab have engaged a provincial law officer to plead its cases on a non-salary basis before the Lahore High Court as a temporary substitute for its deputy prosecutor general.

According to sources, the decision has been taken by the NAB after its long and fruitless efforts to attract any competent private lawyer to fill the vacancy of the DPG.

This is for the first time that the NAB has engaged a law officer from the Punjab Advocate General’s office for its appellate work. All the previous three DPGs, selected from among the privately practising lawyers in Lahore, worked against a monthly salary package.

Now, additional advocate general (AAG) Muhammad Bilal Khan will plead NAB cases currently being heard by LHC’s two ehtesab benches. To be paid for each case, he would be working from an independent office.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Bilal said he had been given the power of attorney by the NAB authorities to plead their cases before the LHC for an unspecified period. “It is unlikely that I would be pleading every case. Rather, as per the terms of the agreement, I can select the cases subject to my availability,” he said.

Asked whether he was authorized to plead the NAB cases while holding the office of the AAG simultaneously, he claimed that any provincial law officer could enter into such an arrangement because it was not contravening to the official code of ethics and did not clash with the State’s legal work.

Quoting the reasons for working with the NAB, the AAG said pleading the accountability cases was just like pleading on behalf of the State which he had already been doing for the last three and half years in the capacity of the AAG.

About the selection of a DPG on permanent basis, he said that the NAB had so far not selected anyone for this office even after holding talks with a number of lawyers. He acknowledged that one of the reasons for the NAB’s failure to appoint a DPG was the condition imposed on the future incumbents to quit their private practice and work exclusively for the bureau.

The NAB DPG office in Lahore has been vacant since January 31, when Javed Shaukat Malik resigned on ‘personal grounds’. Most of the candidates have so far rejected the new appointment condition.