A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has barred fellow judge Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri from judicial work until the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) announces a decision in the alleged invalid law degree case,The decision was pronounced by IHC division bench consisting Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Mohammad Azam Khan.

The petition, filed under Article 199 of the Constitution, sought a writ of quo warranto (by what authority) against Justice Jahangiri, arguing that his foundational qualification for judicial office — an LLB degree from the University of Karachi — is “invalid”, thereby rendering his entire legal career and subsequent appointment illegitimate.

In his petition, the petitioner challenged Justice Jahangiri’s appointment under Article 199 of the Constitution through a writ of quo warranto. The writ of quo warranto is primarily based on the 1998 Supreme Court judgment in Justice Sajjad Ali Shah case. The petition claimed that Justice Jahangiri’s appointment is unconstitutional due to an allegedly invalid degree and requested that his appointment be declared null and void.

The petitioner also requested to probe his ‘fake law degree’ as he contended in the petition that the law degree by which Justice Jahangiri got qualified for his professional responsibility was fake. According to the writ petition, there was concrete evidence that Justice Jahangiri’s degree was fake as he was attaching documents and evidence of forgery.

He urged the court for a complete probe of the matter from the concerned authorities as he further contended that fake degree issue was undermining the integrity of the judiciary. The petitioner sought judicial intervention to deal with counterfeiting and its consequences. The petition was initially filed last year and former IHC CJ Aamer Farooq had reserved judgement on the preliminary issue of whether the petition was maintainable.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)