Law officers’ job status: PHC moved against amend to Act

PESHAWAR: A lawyer here on Saturday moved the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s bid to exclude law officers of the Advocate General’s Office from the definition of government employment.

A petitioner, Nasrullah, filed the petition through Advocate Sultan Muhammad Khan. The provincial government and the secretary Law were named as respondents in the case.

The petition was seeking court orders to amend the recent amendment made to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Appointment of Law Officers Act 2014.

According to the petition, the provincial government recently amended the law dealing with the appointment of law officers.

The petition argued that through this amendment, law officers of the KP Advocate General’s Office had been removed from the Service of Pakistan. It claimed that the amendment was introduced to protect Suhail Sultan, a Member National Assembly (MNA) from Swat’s NA-4 constituency, who was elected on a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket.

Before his election, Suhail Sultan served as a law officer in the Advocate General’s Office. After his retirement, he contested the elections before the required waiting period and won the polls. The petitioner had approached the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seeking his disqualification. When the ECP initiated proceedings against him, the provincial government allegedly amended the law to protect its MNA by removing law officers from the Service of Pakistan, effectively nullifying the grounds for disqualification.

The petition contended that the amendment was unconstitutional and illegal, as the provincial government exceeded its jurisdiction. It argued that the status of an employee cannot be altered through provincial legislation. The petitioner requested the court to declare the amendment null and void and to suspend its implementation until a final verdict was reached.