Fake degree case: Court puts Gujar Khan MPA on notice

Shaukat Aziz Bhatti allegedly submitted fake degree in 2008; tried to cover tracks.

RAWALPINDI: A lower court on Tuesday put on notice a member of the Punjab Assembly from Gujar Khan in a forgery case.

District and Sessions Judge Maroof Ali summoned MPA Raja Shaukat Aziz Bhatti of the Pakistan Muslim League-N to appear in court on November 1 and respond to a complaint filed by the deputy election commissioner Rawalpindi (DEC) Zahoor Ahmed Pasha against the MPA for allegedly submitting a fake Punjab University degree with his nomination papers for the 2008 general elections and later trying to replace it with a diploma issued by Victoria College in London.

After being dissatisfied with the investigations of the Gujar Khan police, the DEC approached the court seeking an action against the MPA for committing forgery and submitting fake documents.

The Gujar Khan police had registered a criminal case against MPA Bhatti on the complaint of the Election Commission of Pakistan for submitting the fake degree following the 2010 Supreme Court verdict on parliamentarians’ degrees verification.

However, the police absolved the MPA, saying he did not submit a Punjab University bachelor’s degree, but only a diploma in business administration from London.

However, in the complaint filed through Advocate Raja Shujaur Rehman, the election officer maintained that the degree was checked by the university, who informed the Higher Education Commission (HEC) that the admission form was filled in by Sheikh Shaukat Aziz and not Raja Shaukat Aziz. No degree had been issued to Raja Shaukat Aziz Bhatti by the university.

According to the contents of the complaint, after registration of criminal case, the MPA with the help of concerned staff switched the degree with the diploma in the judicial record office of Gujar Khan.

This was later established through an inquiry conducted by Additional District and Sessions Judge Mah Rukh Aziz Tara, the complaint said.

The MPA was elected in 2008 on a PML-Q ticket who later joined the PML-N.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2012.