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Senior advocate APS Deol is Punjab advocate general
Deol replaces Atul Nanda who resigned after Captain Amarinder Singh quit as the Punjab chief minister
The Punjab government on Monday appointed criminal lawyer Amar Preet Singh Deol as the advocate general (AG) of the state replacing Atul Nanda who had resigned after Captain Amarinder Singh quit as the chief minister.
Deol, 61, came into limelight recently when he secured release of former director general of police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini arrested by the vigilance bureau in a 2020 criminal case.
Deol had appeared for Saini and other accused in the 2015 sacrilege cases in the high court. In the past, Deol has also appeared for former CM Amarinder Singh in some criminal cases registered during SAD-BJP regime.
In 2007, he was appointed as special public prosecutor in a disproportionate assets case against former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal by then Congress government.
Deol, who became a senior advocate in 2007, was in the reckoning for the AG’s post in 2017 as well when Amarinder took over as the CM.
The government took more than a week to clear Deol’s name. Names of senior advocates Deepinder Singh Patwalia and Anmol Rattan Sidhu, too, were considered.
The government’s move has invited sharp criticism from a section of legal fraternity, who are of the view that technically, Deol won’t be able to appear in the high court neither in cases against Saini nor in 2015 sacrilege violence cases as he had appeared on the other side in the past.
Speaking to a news portal after his appointment, Deol said his name was cleared by Congress high command.
He also said he would prefer senior advocates from high court over those coming from Delhi to defend interests of the state. To a question on him appearing for Saini, he said files have been sent back and his job is to watch the interests of the state.
