Advocate general’s office: LHC sets aside order terminating 20 law officers

Chief justice says govt failed to explain why the law officers were removed.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday set aside a notification for the termination of 20 law officers at the office of the advocate general by the caretaker government on May 5.

The chief justice issued the order on a petition filed by the terminated officers. After their removal, the Punjab government had appointed 19 other officers.

Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, while dictating the order, clarified that the status of the new officers was not affected by the order. He said that the interim government was appointed to hold free and fair elections. Its decision to terminate some officers from the advocate general’s office, while retaining others, without explanation was illegal.

Going through the notification of the removal, the chief justice said that the language of the notification was objectionable, as it contained the word “removal” in reference to the 20 law officers. In a previous hearing, the chief justice had asked the Punjab government to delete the word “removal” from the notification, as the term would hurt the careers of the officers.

The advocate general defended the use of the word. He said that the term “removal from office” was derived from law manuals and would not lead to any stigma on the petitioners.



After listening to the arguments, the chief justice held that the respondent had not defended the decision to remove the officers on the grounds of merit, but on the grounds that the government could remove or appoint law officers “at its pleasure”. This was unsatisfactory, he said.

Arguing on behalf of the petitioners, Maqsoodul Hassan, Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique and Advocate Zakaur Rehman submitted that the caretaker government had acted beyond its mandate and jurisdiction.

They said that the notification by the law secretary was vague and violated Section 24 of the General Clauses Act as well as a judgement of the superior courts, ie, the SC judgement in the Tauqir Sadiq case with respect to appointments in autonomous regulatory bodies.

They said that the whole process also violated the ban imposed by the Election Commission of Pakistan on appointments and transfers. In a caretaker administration, the power to recruit, transfer and post rested with the ECP, they said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2013.