KP govt removes advocate general

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has appointed senior Supreme Court lawyer Shumail Ahmad Butt as the new provincial advocate general after removing Abdul Latif Yousafzai from the office.

The Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights Department has issued two notifications, one regarding the removal of Abdul Latif Yousafzai and the second about appointment of Shumail Ahmad Butt as the new advocate general.

"In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (3) of the Article 140 of the Constitution, the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is pleased to dispense with the services of Abdul Latif Yousafzai," said the first notification from the Law Department. The government then issued another notification about appointment of Shumail Ahmad Butt as advocate general.

Sources told The News that the chief minister and law minister were not pleased with Abdul Latif Yousafzai's performance. The provincial government was facing various cases in the Peshawar High Court and in some the funds for development schemes couldn't be used as the opposition members of the KP Assembly got stay from the courts.

This was Abdul Latif Yousafzai's second stint as the advocate general. Earlier, he was appointed to the post in September 2013 by the previous PTI government. He had stepped down on June 24, 2018 after holding the office for almost five years when the caretaker government was formed in the province to hold elections.

The provincial government then reappointed him as advocate general for the second consecutive term. Among lawyers, Abdul Latif Yousafzai is considered a competent lawyer. He defended the KP government in a number of high-profile cases in the Peshawar High Court, particularly in petitions challenging the enactment of the Ehtesab Commission Act, 2014 and the KP Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act, 2015 and in the case against the PTI government's much-publicised Bus Rapid Transit project in Peshawar.

Shumail Ahmad Butt is a senior Peshawar-based Supreme Court lawyer. Presently, he is engaged in various high-profile cases against the provincial government, including those filed by opposition lawmakers against allocation of huge funds by the chief minister to the finance minister using his discretionary powers.

Besides, he is known for successfully pleading constitutional writ petitions as well as corporate and accountability cases. He has also remained an advisor to the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in different capacities related to public financial management such as National Finance Commission (NFC ), tariff regulations and related dispute resolution for electricity and natural gas, public expenditure reduction and budgetary frameworks, tax reformation ventures, etc.

He also served as legal advisor to the Energy and Power Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was also nominated as member for the Sub-Committee of Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Power from KP government.