ISLAMABAD: Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri Wednesday requested the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) to set aside the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order, declaring as maintainable a petition seeking verification of his law degree.
A two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfaraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, on December 9 declared as maintainable a quo warranto petition questioning the eligibility of Justice Jahangiri to be a judge of the high court.
Mian Dawood, a Lahore-based lawyer, had filed a quo warranto petition with the IHC, questioning Justice Jahangiri’s eligibility. The court had reserved the verdict last year on the question of maintainability of the writ petition. Justice Jahangiri filed the petition with the Federal Constitutional Court for leave to appeal under Article 175F(1)C of the Constitution against the IHC’s December 9 order. The petition was filed through Uzair Karamat Bhandari, advocate.
Geo adds: Justice Tariq Jahangiri claimed that IHC Chief Justice Sarfaraz Dogar had directly and indirectly suggested he submit a post-dated resignation to avoid proceedings in the fake degree case. The case stems from a controversy regarding Justice Jahangiri’s LLB degree, which was cancelled by the University of Karachi.
In his plea before the IHC, Justice Jahangiri said Justice Dogar discussed the pending matter with him and a few others despite it being “sub-judice”. During those discussions, Justice Jahangiri said, the IHC chief justice “acknowledged that tremendous pressure had been brought to bear upon him” to expeditiously adjudicate the case against him.
Justice Jahangiri added that Justice Dogar suggested the IHC judge tender his post-dated resignation and hand it over to him for “safekeeping”. He added that instead of adhering to the code of conduct under pressure, the chief justice allegedly advised a fellow judge to resign.
Terming the IHC chief justice’s actions a violation of the judicial code of conduct, he said the chief justice was no longer eligible to sit on the relevant bench.
Justice Jahangiri argued that the chief justice should recuse himself from hearing the case, noting that applications related to the matter were filed with the Supreme Judicial Council and the IHC.
Prior to this, Justice Jahangiri approached the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), challenging an order of the IHC that declared a petition seeking verification of his academic degree maintainable. A division bench — comprising Justice Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan — had declared the petition filed by Advocate Mian Dawood maintainable on December 9 and issued a notice to Justice Jahangiri, along with other respondents.
In Wednesday’s plea to the FCC, Justice Jahangiri maintained that the petition filed with the IHC was not admissible, requesting the court to dismiss the petition.
