ISLAMABAD: Former judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri challenged the Islamabad High Court’s decision to de-notify him as a judge of the IHC before the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC).
Jahangiri prayed the FCC to declare the High Court order of removing him from his position as a judge null and void. He maintained that he was removed without the legal requirements being fulfilled.
A two-member bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan on December 18 declared that Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri “was not eligible to be elevated as a judge of the High Court”, and directed the Law Ministry to de-notify him as judge of the IHC.
The short order of IHC said: “The elevation of Justice Jahangiri 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 Islamabad High Court, forthwith.”
It directed the IHC office to transmit a copy of this order to the Ministry of Law and Justice Division to de-notify him as judge of this Court and further to do the needful. The bench also disposed of all the pending miscellaneous applications.
The order noted that the qualification to hold the office of a judge of a High Court is personal to the individual and has no nexus with the performance of duties as a Court or as a member of the Court. “The qualifications for appointment of judges of the superior courts are duly provided in the Constitution, under that it is sine qua non for an individual to hold the office of a judge of a superior court,” it added.
The order also said that at the time of appointment of Tariq Mehmood as an Additional Judge of the Islamabad High Court, Islamabad, as well as, at the time of his confirmation as a judge of the Islamabad High Court, Islamabad, he was not holding a valid LL.B. 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 1973 Constitution.
Jahangiri was due to retire on July 10, 2027. He was appointed as an additional judge of the IHC in December 2020 during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government. Before this, he had served as deputy attorney general under the Pakistan Peoples Party government and later held the post of advocate general for the Islamabad Capital Territory during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.
The controversy over his law degree began in 2024 when a letter, allegedly from the University of Karachi’s controller of examinations, started circulating on social media.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026