Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Tariq Jahangiri has claimed that IHC Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar had directly and indirectly suggested he submit a post-dated resignation to avoid proceedings in the fake degree case.
The case stems from a controversy regarding Justice Jahangiri’s LLB degree, which was cancelled by the University of Karachi.
In his plea before the IHC, Justice Jahangiri said that Justice Dogar discussed the pending matter with him and a few others despite it being “sub-judice”.
During those discussions, Justice Jahangiri said, the IHC chief justice “acknowledged that tremendous pressure had been brought to bear upon him” to expeditiously adjudicate the case against him.
Justice Jahangiri added that Justice Dogar suggested the IHC judge tender his post-dated resignation and hand it over to him for “safe-keeping”.
He added that instead of adhering to the code of conduct under pressure, the chief justice allegedly advised a fellow judge to resign.
Terming the IHC chief justice’s actions a violation of the judicial code of conduct, he said that the chief justice was no longer eligible to sit on the relevant bench.
Justice Jahangiri argued that the chief justice should recuse himself from hearing the degree case, noting that applications related to the matter were filed at the Supreme Judicial Council and the IHC.
Citing these circumstances and the public importance of questions relating to judicial appointments and court functioning, the application maintains that the matter ought to be heard by a full court of the Islamabad High Court, excluding the chief justice and other judges whose transfers were challenged, to ensure “transparency, impartiality and public confidence in the administration of justice”.
Prior to this, Justice Jahangiri approached the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), challenging an order of the IHC that declared a petition seeking verification of his academic degree maintainable.
A division bench comprising Justice Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, had declared the petition filed by Advocate Mian Dawood maintainable on December 9 and issued notice to Justice Jahangiri, along with other respondents.
The court conducted a hearing on the case on December 15, where it dismissed Justice Jahangiri’s objection to the constitution of the divisional bench and Justice Dogar’s inclusion in it.
“Keeping in view the sensitive nature of allegations of having an invalid/fake degree levelled against a sitting judge, it was deemed conducive, proper and in fitness of things to constitute a Division Bench to hear this case instead of a Single Bench,” read the court’s written order.
It further highlighted that the constitution of benches to hear cases was the “sole prerogative of the CJ”.
In the plea to the FCC, Justice Jahangiri maintained that the petition filed in the IHC was not admissible, requesting the court to dismiss the petition.