"Do your job properly or quit," Arif was quoted to have told the law officers at a closed- door meeting at his office.

The attorney general (AG) summoned them in the wake of serious concern expressed by Law Minister Moudud Ahmed that many persons convicted of heinous crimes and awarded life-term were enlarged on bail.

Apparently annoyed, the law minister on Monday asked the AG to inquire into any lapses on the part of the law officers and submit a report on their performances.

Recent media reports on the High Court's granting of bail to convicts with life-term evoked sharp criticism. Leading dailies ran editorials questioning the integrity of the persons involved in the process.

The meeting said law chambers having close links with the government usually take the briefs of the accused seeking bail. Law officers in such cases feel shaky to oppose the bail prayers. Since they are appointed on the basis of party affiliation, they don't want to earn displeasure of their mentors.

The ministries concerned hardly supply the list of criminals and their criminal profiles to law officers to enable them to oppose the bail properly, it mentioned.

To get bail, the accused select those lawyers who can influence government policy-making. Court often grants bail without giving adequate time to oppose it, the meeting noted.

Law officers sometimes face question from court if they are empowered by the home ministry to oppose bail petitions, it noted.

There are many other factors, which influence granting of bail. Covert indications are often made to the law officers not to oppose bail. It is no new practice and all successive governments did so, said a law officer requesting anonymity.

He however did not rule out alleged fixing of bail by some law officers.