Disqualification: Petition against Babar Awan accepted

Petition seeks disqualification of PPP Senator Awan for acquiring bogus doctorate degree.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Monday overruled the registrar’s office objections to a petition seeking disqualification of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Babar Awan for allegedly acquiring a bogus doctorate degree and for contesting in Senate elections from the Punjab where he was not registered as a voter.

The registrar had questioned the maintainability of the petition, saying the petitioner was not an aggrieved party and the election of a parliamentarian could not be challenged through a writ petition. On Monday, Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi heard the petition and overruled the registrar’s objection. Advocate Afaq Ahmad had filed the petition seeking the disqualification of the PPP senator. The petitioner stated that Babar Awan claimed had to have obtained a degree from Monticello University in Hawai between 1997 and 1998. He said the degree had been proven bogus.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2013.