Advocate General salary case: PHC says petition lacked merit, substance

PESHAWAR: Dismissing a writ petition filed against the big increase in the salary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general only till his tenure, the Peshawar High Court declared the petition being bereft of merit and substance.

In a detailed judgement authored by Justice Qalandar Ali Khan, the bench stated that the petitioner failed to substantiate allegations in his writ petition with supporting documents.

It was stated that the petitioner is also unable to show his locus standi within the meaning of Article 199 of the Constitution.

The court dismissed the writ petition filed by senior lawyer Muhammad Khurshid Khan in which he had challenged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government notification regarding increase in salary of advocate general Khyber Pakhtunkhwa equal to a high court judge for the tenure of the current advocate general only.

The petitioner claimed that the big increase in the salary of one law officer is discrimination against other law officers and a huge burden on the poverty-stricken province.

The petitioner pointed out that benefit has been given only to the present to the advocate general and termed it discrimination with incoming advocate generals of the province.

The lawyer requested the court either to declare the increase illegal or extend it to the next advocate generals.

The bench declared in the judgement that the other contention of the petitioner that the act of the government is discrimination with the other law officers serving in the KP Advocate General’s office also lacked supporting documents.

“There can be no two opinions that settlement of the terms and conditions for appointment of the Advocate General of the province is the prerogative of the provincial government and it is also a matter of common knowledge that terms and conditions are normally person specific, keeping in view the knowledge and experience in the field,” the bench observed.

It added that the petitioner did not question knowledge and experience of the advocate general and based his case only on the financial constraints of the province in light of austerity measures adopted by the provincial government.

About the arguments of the Additional Advocate General Waqar Ahmad Khan, it said that the law officer referred to a recent judgement of the Supreme Court passed in 2017, stating that the apex court deprecated hiring of private counsels by the government and thus the workload and responsibilities of the Advocate General office have increased manifold, thereby justifying increase in the financial benefits of the Advocate General and other law officers.

Besides, in the written reply, the government highlighted the experience of the Advocate General and also praised his achievements as a senior lawyer and senior advocate of Supreme Court since long.

In the comments, the AG office rebutted the claim in the petition that other provinces have no such high salary. It pointed out that the Sindh Advocate General was getting a salary of Rs180,0000 since 2017.