Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangir’s LLB degree was obtained through unfair means, says HEC

The Higher Education Commissioner in a detailed report submitted to the Islamabad High court has claimed that Karachi University’s LLB degree of Justice Tariq Mehmood was obtained through unfair means.

However, HEC claimed that it had never verified Justice Tariq Mehmood’s law degree, nor the judge approached the commission for verification.

The report was submitted in a hearing where HEC was asked to provide the original education documents of Justice Tariq Mehmood, under the instructions of IHC Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfaraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan.

During the hearing, the court was requested to summon the original documents directly from Karachi University, which upon hearing the claims made by HEC, cancelled the LLB degree awarded to the judge though the university decision was suspended later.

Since HEC is the regulatory authority for all the universities in Karachi, Justice Sarfaraz Dogar observed that the matter involves serious allegations and the bench will first evaluate HEC before deciding whether KU should be issued a notice or not.

In response, the HEC submitted Karachi University inquiry record which highlighted significant inconsistencies in the judge’s academic credential. According to the report, an individual named Tariq Mehmood received an LLB degree in 1991 under the enrolment number 5968.However, university records showed that this same number was given to another student, Imtiaz Ahmed in 1987.Another claim was made that the judge has also registered for LLB-1 using a second enrolment number, which violated university regulations, allowing a single enrolment throughout the degree program.

The inquiry committee stopped short of calling the degree “bogus”, but it ruled the credentials invalid due to multiple identities and contradictory enrolment records.

Karachi University alleged that Tariq Mehmood had appeared in the LLB examination under false identities, using different KU enrolment numbers with the help of university staff. The report further claimed he had impersonated other students of Islamia College, including Mohammad Naeemuddin (son of Mohammad Moinuddin) and Imtiaz Ahmed.

Consequently, the university found the candidate guilty of using unfair means, cancelled his examination results, imposing a three-year ban on him.

The ruling made it clear that it dealt solely with the legality of the interim order, without commenting on the substance of the allegations. The Supreme Court later instructed the Islamabad High Court to decide all preliminary objections and continue the proceedings strictly in accordance with the law.