ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday suspended the Islamabad High Court (IHC) order restraining Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri from judicial work over an alleged fake degree case.
A five-member SC bench, headed by Justice Aminud Din Khan and comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan conducted hearing of an appeal of the IHC judge.
The members of the Islamabad Bar Council and Islamabad High Court Bar Association thronged the courtroom and some had occupied the seat of Additional Attorney General for Pakistan. Justice Jahangiri along with four IHC judges — Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kaya-ni, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Ejaz Ishaq and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz — were pre-sent in the court. They were sitting in the second row on the left side of the courtroom.
Senior advocate Munir A Malik, appearing on behalf of Justice Jahangiri, argued that the writ of quo warranto is maintainable against the judge of superior court, but no interim or-der can be passed. In support of his arguments he cited the judgment of Malik Asad Ali and others vs federation (PLD 1998 Supreme Court 161). Munir stated that he had chal-lenged the interim order passed by the IHC, therefore requested the bench to issue notic-es to the respondents. The Court observed that as the matter related to interpretation of the provisions of the constitution therefore issued notices to the Attorney General for Paki-stan, Advocate General of Islamabad and the federation.
During the proceedings, Justice Mandokhail remarked that the Supreme Judicial Council’s meeting has already been scheduled for October 18.
Justice Shahid Bilal questioned that how a writ petition against Justice Jahangiri was numbered despite unresolved objections by the registrar’s office. “The SC has already ruled that a judge cannot be barred from judicial work,” Justice Mandokhail observed.
Munir told the bench that a complaint regarding the matter is pending before the SJC. “This is the first time in history that a high court’s own bench has stopped one of its judges from judicial work,” he said. He added, “The settled law was ignored. The order did not meet the requirements of justice.”
Justice Jahangiri’s lawyer contended that the petition against his client was filed on July 10, 2024, and had been pending for over a year with objections still unresolved. “Despite that, an interim order was issued without hearing the other side,” he added.
He pointed out that the IHC Chief Justice who had passed the impugned order against whom the appeal in transfer of judges’ case is pending before the apex court.
Advocate Mian Dawood, the petitioner, argued that the SC had previously barred Justice Sajjad Ali Shah from judicial work. However, Justice Mazhar stated that the order in that case was passed under Article 184(3), noting: “The facts were entirely different.”
Malik urged the court to suspend the IHC order to avoid sending “the wrong signal.” He stressed that the ruling violated the Malik Asad Ali case precedent.
At the conclusion of the proceeding, Justice Amin before suspending the IHC order con-sulted with Justice Mandokhail and Justice Mazhar. Later, the bench adjourned hearing of the case until Tuesday (today). Justice Jahangiri was restrained from performing judicial work on September 16 by a Division Bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
IHC issues cause list for Justice Tariq Jahangiri’s court
Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday issued cause list for tomorrow cases in which Jus-tice Tariq Mehmood Jahangir has been included in single and division benches.
The IHC had issued the cause list of the court of Justice Jahangiri after the Supreme Court suspended the verdict of IHC’s division bench which stopped him from performing judicial work. Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri will hear cases tomorrow in division bench with Justice Saman Raffat Imtiaz. Justice Jahangiri had approached the IHC against the verdict of division bench.
