ISLAMABAD:
Next week – December 9 – an authorized official of the University of Karachi “fully aware of the facts” regarding the LLB degree of Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri will appear before the IHC with the original record relating to his degree.
The court-appointed amicus curiae will also present arguments on the same day on upholding the quo warranto petition accusing the judge of holding a questionable law degree.
Based on the record and the arguments presented, the court will decide whether to maintain the motion, states a notice of order issued by the court regarding its proceedings dated December 2.
While hearing the petition filed by Mian Dawood Advocate, an IHC bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan on December 2 ordered the High Education Commission (HEC) to submit the judge’s educational record.
In its order, the bench said it was requisitioning the original file of Justice Jahangiri from the University of Karachi through the HEC “without touching the merits of the matter at this stage”.
Interestingly, a larger bench of the Supreme Court – while hearing petitions filed against a September order of the same court barring Jahangiri from performing his official duties – ordered the IHC to first determine the maintainability of the quo warranto petition.
Some experts believe that a high court cannot hear a petition filed against a sitting judge because the appropriate forum to deal with such a complaint is the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
On September 16, the division bench comprising Justice Dogar and Justice Khan restrained Jahangiri from discharging his duties by issuing notices on the petition filed by advocate Mian Dawood.
The bench also sought assistance from Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan on whether the petition was maintainable. He also appointed senior advocates Zafarullah Khan and Ashtar Ali Ausaf as amici curiae.
The bench noted that until the SJC ruled on the matter, the judge could not proceed with the cases. The IHC judge and several of his colleagues then appealed to the Supreme Court, which on September 30 annulled the provisional order of the division chamber.
Last year, the Karachi University union canceled the IHC judge degree. On September 25, the university also issued a notification confirming its union’s decision.
