Chandigarh : The Punjab Government appointed senior advocate Deepinder Singh Patwalia as the new Advocate General on Friday, in replacement of APS Deol who resigned on November 1. The post had fallen vacant since then. This recruitment comes amid the wake of demand for his ouster by state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
A service matters lawyer, 47-year-old Patwalia is the son of former Supreme Court judge Kuldeep Singh. An alumnus of Panjab University, he was designated as a senior advocate by the Punjab and Haryana high court in 2014.
The first consideration was of Patwalia after CM Charanjit Singh Channi took charge on September 20. But the choice fell on Deol, who soon ran into controversy for being the defence counsel of former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini and some other accused in the 2015 sacrilege violence cases.
Sidhu was not is favor to work with Deol.
Taking on the charge late on Friday evening, Patwalia will have to face many challenges. The Channi government is running against time ahead of polls and is pressing for some kind of breakthrough in drugs cases and 2015 sacrilege violence cases. In the past, the Sidhu-led group had been critical of Amarinder Singh government of tardy probes on both these issues.
The high court is yet to decide on opening of sealed cover reports in Punjab’s drugs cases. As of probe in 2015 sacrilege violence cases, it has also made little progress as the appointment of special public prosecutor Rajwinder Singh Bains has run into controversy and there is a stay on probe against Saini in any FIR till February from the high court. Saini’s role in building up the case in sacrilege violence cases is considered crucial.
Patwalia has been practicing on the constitutional side and has largely been dealing with service matters and even criminal cases. He had appeared before the Punjab and Haryana High Court on behalf of IPS officer Mohammad Mustafa in a case revolving around the appointment of another IPS officer Dinkar Gupta as the state Director-General of Police.
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