IHC to review judge's LLB record on Dec 9

KU official to present Jahangiri's original degree

ISLAMABAD:

Next week — on Dec 9 — an authorized official of the University of Karachi "fully conversant with the facts" regarding the LLB degree of Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri will appear before the IHC along with the original record pertaining to his degree.

The amicus curiae appointed by the court will also give arguments on the same day on maintainability of the quo warranto petition accusing the judge of holding a dubious law degree.

On the basis of the record and the arguments presented, the court will decide about the maintainability of the petition, said an order sheet issued by the court with regard to 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 educational record of the judge.

In its order, the bench noted that it was requisitioning the original record of Justice Jahangiri from the University of Karachi through the HEC "without touching the merits of the case at this stage."

Interestingly, a Supreme Court larger bench — while hearing petitions filed against a September order of the same bench barring Jahangiri from official duties — ordered the IHC to first determine maintainability of the quo warranto petition.

Some experts are of the view that a high court cannot hear a petition filed against a serving judge as the proper forum to address such a complaint is the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

The division bench, consisting of Justice Dogar and Justice Khan, on September 16 stopped Jahangiri from performing his duties as it issued notices on the petition filed by Mian Dawood Advocate.

The bench also sought assistance from Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan on the question of whether the petition was maintainable. It also appointed senior lawyers Barrister Zafarullah Khan and Ashtar Ali Ausaf as amici curiae.

The bench noted that until the SJC decided the matter, the judge could not handle cases. The IHC judge and a number of his colleagues had later moved the Supreme Court, which on September 30 set aside the interim order of the division bench.

Last year, the syndicate of the University of Karachi cancelled the degree of the IHC judge. On Sept 25 the university also issued a notification confirming the decision of its syndicate.