President Asif Ali Zardari, on early Friday morning, approved the de-notification of Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri as a judge of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on the advice of the prime minister.
“The president has approved the de-notification of Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri as [a] judge, IHC, on the advice of the prime minister, in compliance with the IHC verdict and in accordance with the Constitution and law,” a statement from the President’s Secretariat said.
The development came hours after the an IHC division bench, led by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar ruled on Thursday that Justice Jahangiri’s elevation to the superior court “without lawful authority” and that he “ceased to hold” the office of the IHC judge forthwith.
The bench, which also included Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, issued the judgement, which was reserved earlier in the day, on a plea that challenged the legitimacy of Justice Jahangiri’s law degree and appointment as a judge.
A short written order of the court, available with Dawn, said at the time of Justice Jahangiri’s appointment as an additional judge of the IHC, “as well as at the time of his confirmation as a judge of the IHC, he was not holding a valid LLB degree, which is a prerequisite for enrolment as an advocate”.
“When he could not be considered as an advocate, then consequently he was not eligible for elevation as a judge of a high court in terms of the requirements of Article 175-A of the Constitution,” it added.
On the basis of this observation, the court ruled that Justice Jahangiri’s elevation to the IHC was “without lawful authority, as he was not eligible to be elevated as a judge of a high court”.
“Thus, he ceased to hold the office of the judge of the IHC forthwith.”
The court had also directed the law ministry to denotify him as a judge of the IHC. “All the pending miscellaneous applications are also disposed of,” it added.
The bench’s decision came a day after Justice Jahangiri accused CJ Dogar of being “biased” against him and requested the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) to set aside the recent IHC decision to hear a petition challenging his law degree. The same day, he also filed a formal complaint before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) — the top forum for judicial accountability that probes allegations of misconduct against judges — against the chief justice.
