The Sindh High Court on Friday extended the interim stay order with regard to the cancellation of the law degree of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri by Karachi University and directed the law officers to file comments on the petition.
Justice Jahangiri had challenged a decision of the KU’s unfair means committee and syndicate to cancel his 32-year-old law degree. The federal and provincial law officers sought time to file comments on the petition.
A division bench of the high court, headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro, directed the respondents to file comments and extended the interim stay order in which the KU’s declaration with regard to the law degree of Justice Jehangiri has been suspended.
The petitioner’s counsel had earlier stated the Justice Jahangiri had filed a petition for declaration against the actions of the KU unfair means committee and syndicate, which passed their decisions with regard to his degree and
LLB examinations without providing him any opportunity of hearing.
He said the petitioner had obtained a valid degree after passing all the LLB exams and the impugned decisions were based on mala fide intentions and they were against the relevant laws and regulations.
The counsel submitted that the proceedings were initiated on a complaint of a man, M Irfan, while the petitioner was not heard by any of the committees and the syndicate though they issued adverse decisions against him. He further said the University of Karachi Act did not give the authority to cancel the degree.
Justice Jahangiri stated in the petition that he had been a permanent judge of the Islamabad High Court since 2020 and had also served as the advocate general of Islamabad, deputy attorney general and special prosecutor of the National Accountability Bureau in his legal profession.
He said he was also elected as the president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association and the Islamabad district bar association during his professional career. The petitioner said he was one of the judges of the IHC who wrote a letter about interference and surveillance by agencies and he was being targeted by candidates for becoming a judge of the election tribunal.
Justice Jahangiri submitted that the impugned unfair means committee and KU syndicate’s decisions with regard to the cancellation of his degree were nothing but a frontal attack on judicial independence, constitutionalism, rule of law and access to justice.
It was submitted that the impugned actions were barred by limitation as the petitioner was conferred with an LLM degree over three decades back and it had not been alleged that the petitioner did not sit in LLB examinations or did not pass LLB exams or the LLB degree was not issued by the university.
The petitioner said the unfair means committee’s decision was shocking as no notice was issued to him with regard to the clarification of his stance on the degree; besides under the KU regulations, the said committee had to be appointed by the syndicate, which it did not do.
He pointed out that one of the syndicate members who raised voice against illegality was detained by the police in order to restrain him from joining the syndicate meeting of the KU on August 31, 2024.
The petitioner said the KU syndicate decision was also unlawful as there was no power in the University Act or conduct of examination regulations which allows the syndicate to cancel a degree once issued after 32 years and such power must lie with the civil court.