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ISLAMABAD:
The newly constituted bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that was supposed to resume hearing a plea accusing IHC judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri of having a dubious LLB degree has also been dissolved.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan on September 16 stopped Justice Jahangiri from performing his duties when it issued notices on the petition filed by Mian Dawood Advocate.
The IHC judge and a number of his colleagues had later moved the Supreme Court, which on September 30 set aside the division bench’s interim order.
Meanwhile, the bench was reconstituted with Justice Khadim Hussian Soomro replacing Justice Muhammad Azam Khan. On Tuesday, the bench was to hear a plea filed by the Islamabad District Bar Association to become a party to the case.
But when the bench resumed hearing the case, Justice Soomro recused himself citing personal reasons. This led to the dissolution of the bench, which will now be reconstituted at the next hearing.
Last year, the syndicate of the University of Karachi canceled the degree of IHC judge. On September 25, after the IHC stopped the judge from performing his duties, the university also issued a notice confirming its syndicate’s decision.
The university registrar stated that Tariq Mahmood, son of Qazi Muhammad Akram, had been found guilty of using unfair means in the late 80s.
“[He] was debarred for three years from taking admission in any University/College and appearing in any University Examination under Disqualification Circular No. 88 of 1989 and was never a student of Islamia Law College Karachi.
“In accordance with the Syndicate meeting held on 31st August 2024 pursuant to Resolution No. 06, the LLB Results and Degree of Tariq Mehmood Tenancy Seat No. 22857; Enrollment No. AIL-7124/87 are hereby withdrawn and cancelled,” it added.
However, the Sindh High Court suspended the University of Karachi’s notification on October 3.
