The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday suspended an order passed by the caretaker government in Punjab about removal of 97 law officers appointed during the tenure of the PTI government. LHC Justice Shahid Karim issued the order and directed all law officers to resume their jobs and appeared before courts. Expressing resentment over non- appearance of the law officers, he said judiciary was unable to work for four days. No one cares about the people whose case are pending in courts, he remarked. The secretary law had barred the 97 law officers, including 32 additional and 65 assistant advocate generals, appointed by the PTI government from working after the approval of the interim cabinet.

Last week, the high court suspended a notification issued by the provincial government to remove Advocate General Punjab (AGP) Ahmad Awais and reinstated him to his office. The LHC issued ruling on a petition filed by Mr Awais arguing that the caretaker government had no powers to remove him since it was not an elected setup. He said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had appointed the interim government to hold the elections only in the province. His counsel pleaded the court to set aside the removal of the advocate general being unlawful. However, a lawyer for the government argued that the chief minister could replace the chief law officer. Last month, the caretaker government had removed AGP Awais and assigned a look-after charge to a law officer Muhammad Jawad Yaqoob.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP