Seeks to cancel Dec 18 de-announcement due to invalid law degree, says law requirements not met
ISLAMABAD:
Former Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Tariq Jahangiri has approached the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) challenging his removal from the judicial post.
Jahangiri filed an appeal with the FCC, stating that the IHC’s decision to remove him from his position as a judge should be declared null and void. He maintained that he was removed without the legal requirements being met.
The IHC officially deregistered Jahangiri on issues related to his law degree on 18 December 2025. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan ruled that Jahangiri did not have a valid degree at the time of his appointment and declared his appointment “illegal.”
Read: Jahangiri faces uphill legal battle
The bench ordered him to vacate his office immediately and directed the law ministry to formally remove him from the judiciary. “He had an invalid law degree at the time of his appointment and confirmation as a judge,” the court noted. Jahangiri had accused Dogar of misconduct, saying he was under “immense pressure” for speedy disposal of the quo warranto petition against him.
He also moved an application in the IHC through advocate Akram Sheikh, seeking to refer the case against his disqualification to the full court comprising all judges except the transferee judges, including Dogar.
Jahangiri was due to retire on 10 July 2027. He was appointed as an additional judge of the IHC in December 2020 under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government. Prior to this, he had served as Deputy Public Prosecutor under the Pakistan Peoples Party government and later held the post of Advocate General for Islamabad Capital Territory under the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.
Read more: Justice Jahangiri charges IHC CJ Dogar with misconduct
The controversy surrounding his law degree began in 2024 when a letter, purportedly from the University of Karachi’s Controller of Examinations, began circulating on social media. In July, a complaint regarding Jahangiri’s alleged fake degree was filed with the Supreme Judicial Council, the top judicial accountability forum that investigates allegations of misconduct against judges.
