Sindh High Court (SHC) has suspended the University of Karachi’s decision to cancel the degree of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri.
A bench with two members led by Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro heard the petition against cancellation of the degree. SINDH ADVOCATE GENERAL JAWAD DERO, KU -Registrator Professor Imran Siddiqui and other officials were present during the consultation.
The registrar assessed the court that the university had received notice “only two days earlier” and requested time to file an answer.
The other lawyer’s lawyer, Barrister Salahuddin, sought more time from the bench to answer while sought cancellation of Varsy’s order in the meantime.
“How much time do you need? If action is taken against the petitioner during this period, who will compensate for the loss? If the order is later turned, who will be responsible? This involves a man’s lifetime. Was even noticed to the party affected?” The bench asked the Justice Secretary.
Read: Payment Price for Legal Independence: Jahangiri
Siddiqui replied that he was recently appointed registrar and was unaware of the case story.
This annoyed bench further. “If you are in court, you have to give an answer. It may be that the action was driven by personal interest. Questions are raised over his degree. Even if anyone submits a petition 30-35 years later, the person concerned must be heard. We do not say that no action can be taken, but a person’s honor cannot be put at risk.”
Justice Kalhoro added that court decisions adopted without hearing both sides had little weight. “Ex-parte judgments are not considered good judgments.”
The bench suspended KU’s review and maintained Varsity from taking additional actions based on the syndicate and unreasonable means of the committee’s recommendations. The next hearing is scheduled for October 24th.
‘Fictitious degree’
KU had declared Jahangiris LLB degree “fictitious” after the unreasonable means that committees concluded that he had never been enrolled in Islamia Law College and had engaged in Malpractice during his LLB exams in the 1980s.
Ku Syndicate approved the conclusions, which later became the basis for a complaint now pending the highest Judicial Council (SJC).
‘Mala Fide Intention’
Justice Jahangiri claims that the cancellation was “illegal” and “Mala Fide” and claimed that the violated principles of natural justice when he was not notified before the decision. He also claims that the move is a political victim and connects it with earlier cases of claiming legal independence.
Jahangiri has referred to a letter he signed in March 2024 against the surveillance of judges and his work as a judge at an election court that disturbed the ruling party’s candidates in his decisions as examples of such cases.
Read more: SC puts order for restriction of IHC -judge Jahangiri
Earlier, on September 16, a division bench by IHC, led by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, Justice Jahangiri withheld from performing court work as it took the procedure on a quo -warranto -arranging that challenged the validity of his LLB degree.
Three days later, on September 19, Justice Jahangiri, along with four other IHC judges, filed separate constitutional petitions for the Supreme Court who tried to Quash IHC’s detention order.
On September 25, KU formally canceled its LLB degree with reference to the Syndicate’s previous decision.
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Justice Jahangiri then approached SHC and challenged the case maintenance and emphasized that he had not formally been introduced or given.
During the hearing, his advice staged a walkout a lot to irritation to the SHC bench. “Such a behavior is very printed,” observed the bench and warned that it could constitute contempt of court.
On September 30, a five-member constitutional bench from the Supreme Court, led by Justice Aminuddin Khan, suspended the IHC order, which had excluded Jahangiri from judicial work.
The supreme court emphasized that a judge could not be detained from performing tasks through a preliminary order and noted that only Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has the authority to act against a sitting judge.
Justice Jahangiri’s legal tasks were restored, but limited to single and division benches.
By October 3, Justice Jahangiri filed a petition to the Supreme Court against the SHC decision, which rejected his plea to become a party to the false degree.
The petition claimed that SHC adopted an ex-parte judgment without hearing the troubled party and appointed 10 institutions, including KU and SINDH Higher Education Commission as respondents.
Senior lawyer Faisal Siddiqui questioned how SHC could decide maintenance without first hearing the concerned party, while Jahangiri’s lawyer, Munir A Malik, claimed that only SJC has constitutional authority to intervene against a sitting judge. Malik also emphasized that cancellation of a degree after 34 years was “unprecedented”.
The Appex Court must undergo the maintenance of the Petries as well as the procedures adopted by both KU and SHC. Lawyers say the result could have far -reaching consequences for legal independence and the process of judging complaints of sitting judges.
