A Pakistani judge served five years in the Islamabad High Court without a credible degree. The IHC declared his law degree void from the beginning, rendering his appointment as legally invalid. Announcing a 116-page judgement on Monday, the Islamabad High Court removed one of its judges, Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri, over a fake law degree, as per a report by Dawn.
Jahangir, who was appointed as a Judge in the Islamabad High Court in December 2020, was barred from performing duties as a judge in September last year. The decision was based on real records provided by the Karachi University Registrar to the court. As per the court’s observation, the documents provided by Jahangir were fake, and he is accused of impersonation and attempts to evade punishment.
The accused judge appeared for the exam in 1988 with a fake enrolment and was barred from appearing in the exam for 3 years after he was caught cheating in the exam. Instead of accepting the punishment and abiding by the rules, Jahangir opted for fraudulent means. He appeared for the exam the following year again under the name Tariq Jahangir. This time, he used an enrolment number, which was assigned to another student named Imtiaz Ahmed.
The principal of Government Islamia Law College told the court that Jahangir was never admitted to the college. Jahangir, despite being given multiple chances to produce original documents and a written reply, failed to do so.
The court observed that since the petitioner had produced the evidence, the responsibility to prove his qualification was shifted to the respondent, and his failure to do so resulted in an opposite inference.