Punjab govt seeks resignation from all law officers; AG says ‘restructuring office’

Of the 236 posts of law officers, two are of senior additional advocates general, 44 of additional advocates general, 30 of senior deputy advocates general, 61 of deputy advocates general, 92 of assistant advocates general and seven posts of advocates on record.

The move to seek law officers’ resignation, coming amid an ongoing purge where the government has dismissed more than 50 police officers — mostly after being named in corruption cases — and a rejig where police chiefs of nine districts have been changed, has created a flutter within the power circles.

There is buzz that following the AAP’s debacle in Delhi, several law officers from the national capital, considered close to the party, may find a place in Punjab AG’s office.

Officially, the government is claiming that it was looking at restructuring the department by revamping it and filling it with new energy.

Dispelling the speculation that the he too has been asked to quit, Gurminder Singh said, “I am not resigning.”

Justifying the call for resignation, the AG said that the law officers had completed their one year term in the office on February 10. “We are not throwing people out. We will just restructure the department aiming at the reorientation of these law officers. We will start the process of appointing the law officers afresh,” said the AG

An official in the Punjab AG’s office confirmed that the law officers are engaged on contract for a term of one year. However, the governments usually do not replace them during their five-year tenure. Their contract is extended every year, the official said. It does happen sometimes that some law officers put in their papers, as their private practise suffers while they pursue cases for the government in the courts. Their replacements, however, are quickly appointed, said the official.

He added that by restructuring the AG office, the government wanted to give an opportunity to lawyers associated with the ruling party amid a resentment that existing batch of law officers were not appointed from among AAP workers and volunteers.

Resentment has already started brewing among the law officers, who have resigned. “We know what are they trying to do. They will reappoint several among us, but will also pick some faces from Delhi. You will see that in the days to come,” said a law officer, who has put in his papers but whose resignation was yet to be accepted.

A source in the state law department said that an advertisement, asking aspirants to apply for the posts of law officers, would be released next week.

A source in the government, meanwhile, said that the AAP dispensation was not happy with the performance of the AG’s office especially after the government had lost several cases in the courts. The bailing out of former Congress minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu and another former minister Sunder Sham Arora in alleged scams had caused embarrassment to the government. Before that the government was also not able to defend its decision to dissolve the panchayats prematurely last year. The government had to withdraw its notification of dissolving the panchayats. This had also caused embarrassment to the state government. At that time, Chief minister Bhagwant Mann had put under suspension two senior IAS officers blaming them for the fiasco.

Earlier this week, on February 17, the government removed 1993-batch IPS officer Varinder Kumar as the chief director of the state Vigilance Bureau, and attached him to the office of the director general of police. At that time also, senior officials had claimed that the move was linked to the embarrassment that the government suffered in Ashu and Arora cases. “The government has been acting against corruption but these cases have been falling flat in the courts,” an official said.

The AAP government has recently issued a directive highlighting zero tolerance to corruption. Since then, the Punjab Police has dismissed 52 police officers in the ranks of constable to inspectors and suspended eight superintendents of police (SPs) and 10 deputy SPs. The Punjab government had also suspended 2016-batch IAS officer Rajesh Tripathi and ordered a vigilance inquiry following “serious complaints of corruption,” against him. At the time, Tripathi was posted as Sri Muktsar Sahib’s Deputy Commissioner.