By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday rejected objections raised by one of its own judges, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, to a two-judge panel hearing a petition that challenges the validity of his law degree and his appointment to the bench, escalating a controversy that has roiled Pakistan’s judiciary and raised questions about judicial accountability.
The ruling, issued after a hearing on Monday, came as the court grapples with allegations that Justice Jahangiri obtained his LLB degree from the University of Karachi through unfair means, a claim that has prompted scrutiny from the Higher Education Commission and drawn in the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, leading the division bench alongside Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, dismissed Justice Jahangiri’s arguments that the case should be heard by a single judge and his expression of no confidence in the panel, citing the chief justice’s prerogative in forming benches and precedents from Pakistan’s highest court.
Justice Jahangiri, who appeared in person before the bench on Monday, had argued that the petition filed by lawyer Mian Dawood warranted a single bench rather than a division one. He also voiced a lack of confidence in Chief Justice Dogar, pointing to an intra-court appeal he had filed against him in the Supreme Court. But the court’s order stated that given “the sensitive nature of allegations of having an invalid/fake degree having been levelled against a sitting judge of this court, it was deemed conducive, proper and in the fitness of things to constitute a division bench to hear this case instead of a single bench.”
The order added: “Even otherwise, the constitution of benches to hear cases, is the sole prerogative of the chief justice.” It further noted that “it is not a first instance of this kind wherein the division bench has been constituted to hear a certain petition,” concluding that the objection “has no force.” Addressing the no-confidence claim, the court pointed out that the intra-court appeal, filed in July by Justice Jahangiri and four other Islamabad High Court judges against a Supreme Court decision upholding the seniority list that elevated Chief Justice Dogar, had been dismissed by the Federal Constitutional Court on Nov. 24 for non-prosecution.
That appeal had sought to prevent Justices Dogar, Khadim Hussain Soomro and Mohammad Asif from being considered judges until they took fresh oaths under Article 194 of the Constitution. The Federal Constitutional Court was established under the 27th Constitutional Amendment. In rejecting the objection, the Islamabad High Court invoked several Supreme Court precedents. It cited Asif Ali Zardari vs. The State (PLD 2001 SC 568), where the Supreme Court held that a “judge of a superior court is a keeper of his own conscience and it is for him to decide whether to hear or not to hear a matter before him.”
The order also referenced Benazir Bhutto vs. The President of Pakistan (1992 SCMR 140), which drew a distinction in handling bias allegations between subordinate and superior court judges, noting that the Supreme Court does not grant transfer applications for superior court judges due to lack of power. Additionally, it recalled M.H. Khondkhar vs. The State (PLD 1966 Supreme Court 140), where the Supreme Court ruled that an application for transfer “does not lie at all against a judge of the high court,” and a more recent order in Muhammad Azam Khan Swati vs. The State and another (2023 P Cr.L.J. 350).
During the hearing, Justice Jahangiri informed the bench that he had not received any case records and requested time to hire private counsel and obtain copies. The court responded by directing the Higher Education Commission to provide him with its report and annexures. The order instructed the court office “to do the needful in this regard and provide copies of the instant petition along with annexures and reports of the HEC as well as of KU to the respondent.” The bench also summoned the University of Karachi’s registrar to appear in person on Thursday with records related to Justice Jahangiri’s degree.
The Higher Education Commission, in a report submitted to the court on Dec. 8, had endorsed the university’s findings that the degree was obtained through unfair means. The dispute traces back to a letter purportedly from the University of Karachi’s controller of examinations that circulated on social media last year, alleging the degree was fake. This led to a complaint filed with the Supreme Judicial Council in July of last year and the current petition in the Islamabad High Court earlier this year.
On Sept. 16, the same division bench issued an interim order barring Justice Jahangiri from judicial duties until deciding the petition’s maintainability, without prior notice to him. That move stirred debate in legal circles over a high court’s authority to suspend a sitting judge temporarily. The Supreme Court intervened on Sept. 29, setting aside the order. A five-member constitutional bench led by Justice Aminuddin Khan ruled that a high court cannot bar a judge from judicial functions while hearing a quo warranto petition, clarifying that the decision addressed only the interim order’s legality, not the allegations’ merits.
The Supreme Court instructed the Islamabad High Court to resolve preliminary objections and proceed accordingly. Justice Jahangiri was among six Islamabad High Court judges who last year wrote to the Supreme Judicial Council alleging interference by intelligence agencies in judicial matters, a letter that ignited broader discussions on judicial independence and calls for an inquiry.
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