The Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared on Tuesday a petition seeking the verification of Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri’s degree maintainable and sought a reply from the judge on the matter within three days.
The court had reserved its decision on the maintainability of the plea in July last year.
A two-member IHC bench, comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, issued the verdict after hearing arguments on the matter.
During the hearing, Ahmed Hassan Shah, who was representing the District Bar Association, contended that the matter should be referred to the IBC, which issues licences to lawyers. He also argued that allegations of misconduct against any judge fell under Article 209 of the Constitution, which covers the subject of the SJC.
At that, CJ Dogar observed that the case did not pertain to misconduct but the eligibility of a judge to hold office.
However, the lawyer insisted that the SJC was the right forum for the matter. “The court cannot exercise its jurisdiction under Article 199 in competing circumstances,” he argued.
For his part, amicus curiae Barrister Zafarullah Khan raised questions regarding the maintainability of the plea. He also raised the question whether the case should proceed under Article 209 or Article 199.
Highlighting that the case concerned the “integrity of a judge”, he noted that sub-clause 5 of Article 199 excluded courts and sub-clause 3 excluded the armed forces.
Moreover, he pointed out that the SC had also previously dealt with the matter at hand.
At that, CJ Dogar remarked that the SC had directed the IHC to proceed with the plea. He also observed that a writ of quo warranto could be issued against a judge.
During the hearing, Advocate General Ayaz Shaukat read out a report by the University of Karachi.
At the previous hearing, the Higher Education Commission (HEC), in its detailed report submitted to the IHC, had endorsed KU’s findings that the LLB degree of Justice Jahangiri was obtained through unfair means.
Reading the report, the advocate general said Justice Jahangiri had been debarred from appearing in an LLB exam for three years in 1988, but he still sat an exam under a different name.
At that, Abbasi argued that the Sindh High Court had suspended the KU notification cancelling the judge’s degree.
CJ Dogar, however, observed that the degree had not been restored.
The court then declared the plea maintainable and issued notices to respondents, directing them to submit their replies within three days.