How can disqualification under articles 62, 63 be permanent, asks SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday asked how anyone could be disqualified from elections forever on the basis of articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

This observation was made during the hearing of a fake degree case against former MPA Samina Khawar Hyat.Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali observed that people could reform themselves to be qualified under articles 62 and 63 after being disqualified under the same at a point of time.

He said that it was not necessary that a convict gets a lifetime disqualification.Justice Mian Saqib Nisar observed that the apex court had formed a larger bench to interpret these articles. He said if a person was disqualified under those articles, he had the chance to reform himself and be qualified in the next elections. He said lawyers should tell the court that disqualification under those articles was permanent or not.

The five-member larger bench expressed dissatisfaction with the degree record of the PML-Q MPA, presented to the court by the Punjab University Controller Examination Syed Masood. It observed that forensic test of the documents would be conducted if need be, and if they prove to be fake, the controller examination would be jailed. The university representatives told the court that all the record was preserved in computer and would be presented whenever sought. The court put off the hearing till the first week of May.