Anmol Rattan Sidhu was appointed Punjab Advocate General in March by the AAP government
The Punjab government's top lawyer Anmol Rattan Sidhu has resigned citing personal reasons, sources have said.
Mr Sidhu was appointed Advocate General by the new Aam Aadmi Party government under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in March this year.
He had replaced Senior Advocate DS Patwalia, who was appointed by the previous Congress government led by former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi in November last year.
The Advocate General's resignation is the second high-profile exit of senior officials in just four months of the Aam Aadmi Party, or AAP, government. The first to quit was former police chief VK Bhawra.
Mr Sidhu was instrumental in Punjab Police getting the transit remand of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi from Delhi's Tihar Jail after the gangster was named as the plotter behind the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala on May 29.
The Advocate General had alleged he was attacked while returning to Punjab after attending a court hearing in Delhi to get hold of Lawrence Bishnoi custody for the state police.
Mr Sidhu had an argument with some Indian Administrative Service, or IAS, officers and they may have led him to resign, people with direct knowledge of the matter told NDTV, asking not to be named. They declined to say exactly on what matter the Advocate General and the IAS officers had a face-off.
Mr Sidhu's exit is being seen as a setback for the Bhagwant Mann government as many sensitive cases such as those on alleged sacrilege are pending in court, and the state government may find itself without access to the skills of its top lawyer.
The Punjab government has seen setbacks in recent times inside courtrooms. BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga got relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a case filed in Mohali for allegedly making provocative statements on social media. Former Punjab Health Minister Vijay Singla, who faces corruption allegations, was granted bail. The Punjab government recently withdrew its petition from the high court that challenged an order of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes on appointment of law officers. And the state government was criticised by the high court for allegedly leaking security pruning details of VVIPs.