Supreme Court restores Justice Tariq Jahangiri to his position

ISLAMABAD-(Mudassar Iqbal/web Desk)-The Supreme Court on Monday suspended an Islamabad High Court (IHC) order that had barred Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri from performing judicial duties.

A five-member constitutional bench of the apex court heard Justice Jahangiri’s appeal and directed that he be allowed to resume work until further proceedings. The court also issued notices to all relevant parties, including the office of the Attorney General of Pakistan, and adjourned the case hearing till Tuesday.

Earlier, the University of Karachi (UoK) had cancelled Justice Jahangiri’s LLB degree on allegations of using unfair means. Following this, the IHC had stopped him from judicial work until a decision by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

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Justice Jahangiri’s reinstatement marks a key development in the ongoing legal battle surrounding his academic credentials and judicial role.

The decision was announced by a five-member constitutional bench, headed by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, on an appeal filed by Justice Jahangiri challenging the IHC’s September 16 order.

Other members of the bench included Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan.

The development comes after a two-member bench of the IHC, led by Chief Justice (CJ) Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and comprising Justice Mohammad Azam Khan, restrained Justice Jahangiri from performing judicial duties until the Supreme Judicial Council’s (SJC) decision on a petition pending against him. The petition was filed by lawyer Mian Dawood.

Following the verdict, five IHC judges, including Justice Jahangiri, separately approached the SC against the divisional bench’s order.

The four other judges were Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Saman Rifat and Justice Ejaz Ishaq Khan.

The case centers on a controversy regarding Justice Jahangiri’s LLB degree, which was cancelled last week by the University of Karachi.

According to the university’s notification dated September 25, the university syndicate, in its meeting on August 31, 2024, approved “Resolution No 06” in compliance with the competent authority’s decision, upholding the recommendation of the Unfair Means Committee (UFM).

The notification stated, “Justice Jahangiri was found guilty of using unfair means and has been barred for three years from admission to any university or college, as well as from appearing in any university examination.”

Furthermore, the University of Karachi clarified that Justice Jahangiri had never been enrolled as a student at Islamia Law College, Karachi, in 1989.

Earlier, the Sindh High Court (SHC) had suspended both the University of Karachi’s Unfair Means Committee decision and the syndicate’s declaration invalidating the judge’s degree.

The petitioner had challenged the UFM committee’s decision to cancel Justice Jahangiri’s degree on August 17, 2024.

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Since then, the Sindh High Court (SHC) has also thrown out similar petitions against the judge’s degree, citing non-prosecution, despite objections raised by the defence counsel.

During the proceedings, the defence counsel questioned the legality of transferring the petitions from one constitutional bench—originally set to hear the matter on September 30—to the current bench. In protest over the refusal to shift the case back, the lawyers staged a boycott after the bench declined to step aside.

The bench observed that both judges had agreed there were no valid grounds for recusal, emphasizing that questions regarding the petitions’ maintainability must be addressed first.

It further dismissed the argument that the case should be taken up by a regular SHC bench, clarifying that, due to the nature of the relief sought, a constitutional bench was the appropriate forum.