An Islamabad High Court (IHC) bench, led by Chief Justice (CJ) Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar and comprising Justice Mohammad Azam Khan, barred Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri from carrying out judicial work until the Supreme Judicial Council’s (SJC) decision on the matter of his allegedly fake degree.
A complaint[1] pertaining to Justice Jahangiri’s allegedly fake degree was submitted to the SJC last year in July while a petition challenging his appointment was filed in the IHC[2] earlier this year.
The matter centres on a letter[3] that began circulating last year on social media, purportedly from the University of Karachi’s controller of examinations, regarding the judge’s law degree.
During the hearing today, apart from barring Justice Jahangiri from carrying out judicial work, the bench also appointed lawyers Barrister Zafarullah Khan and Ashtar Ausaf as amici curiae.
Moreover, the bench also sought the attorney general’s assistance over the matter of the maintainability of the plea.
It ruled that the case would remain under adjournment until the SJC’s decision on the matter.
“The court has to consider an important question, that if a matter is under adjournment in the Supreme Judicial Council, can the high court be approached on it,” the bench observed.
At one point in the hearing, Raja Aleem Abbasi, who was representing the Islamabad Bar Association, remarked, “We believe in the rule of law.” He added that bar associations were also stakeholders in the matter.
CJ Dogar observed during the hearing that anyone had the right to hearing and the court had to consider the objections on the petition by the registrar’s office.
For his part, counsel Abbasi pleaded that if the practice of filing such cases turned into trend, it could be “dangerous”. He argued that objections on the petition should be upheld.
The court concluded the hearing after ruling that Justice Jahangiri should be barred from judicial work until the SJC’s decision.
Following that, the IHC also issued a revised duty roster for the judges, which is seen by Dawn.com and does not show Justice Jahangiri being a part of any bench.
The petition
The petition[4] against Justice Jahangiri, filed under Article 199 of the Constitution, seeks a writ of quo warranto (by what authority) against him, arguing that his foundational qualification for judicial office — an LLB degree from the University of Karachi — is “invalid”, thereby rendering his entire legal career and subsequent appointment illegitimate.
The petitioner has based his case on official correspondence from the University of Karachi, which is attached as evidence with the plea.
The key allegations in the petition include the use of dual enrollment numbers, as the record shows two different enrollment[5] numbers for Justice Jahangiri’s LLB Part-I and Part-II examinations. The University of Karachi has previously stated that it is “impossible to allot two enrollment numbers to a student for one programme”.
The enrollment number AIL-5968/87, which appears on Justice Jahangiri’s LLB Part-I mark sheet, was officially allocated by the university to another individual, Imtiaz Ahmad, son of Muhammad Ellahi, according to the petition.
Furthermore, the principal of Government Islamia Law College, Karachi, stated in a letter that a student named “Tariq Mehmood s/o Qazi Muhammad Akram”, under enrollment number AIL-7124/87, was never admitted to the college for the LLB programme during the relevant period, the petition read.
It further stated that the controller of examinations at KU concluded in an official letter that the degree and mark sheets in question were “invalid”.
The petition argued that the appointment of a judge without the requisite legal qualification is not just an administrative error, but a violation of the fundamental rights of all citizens.
The petitioner has contended that the presence of a judge with an allegedly invalid degree “shakes public confidence” and “tarnishes the image of the judiciary as a neutral arbiter”.
It may be recalled that Justice Jahangiri is one of the five judges who challenged[6] the transfer of Justice Dogar, along with two other judges —Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and Justice Mohammad Asif — to the IHC.
He was also among the cohort that, last year, wrote a letter[7] to the Supreme Judicial Council, alleging interference by intelligence agencies in the judicial matters.
Days before the controversy over his degree initially surfaced, Justice Jahangiri was expeditiously hearing election petitions against alleged rigging in all three constituencies of Islamabad.