Islamabad, December 17, 2025: Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Tariq Jahangiri has alleged that IHC Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar directly and indirectly suggested that he submit a post-dated resignation to avoid proceedings in a case related to his academic degree.
The controversy pertains to Justice Jahangiri’s LLB degree, which was cancelled by the University of Karachi. In a plea filed before the IHC, Justice Jahangiri claimed that despite the matter being sub judice, Chief Justice Dogar discussed the pending case with him and a few others.
According to Justice Jahangiri, during these discussions, the chief justice acknowledged that “tremendous pressure” was being exerted on him to swiftly adjudicate the case. He further alleged that Justice Dogar suggested he tender a post-dated resignation and hand it over to the chief justice for “safe-keeping”.
Justice Jahangiri contended that instead of adhering to the judicial code of conduct under pressure, the chief justice allegedly advised a fellow judge to resign, terming the act a clear violation of judicial ethics. On these grounds, he argued that Chief Justice Dogar was no longer eligible to sit on the relevant bench hearing the degree case.
He urged that the chief justice recuse himself, pointing out that applications related to the matter had already been filed before both the Supreme Judicial Council and the IHC.
Earlier, Justice Jahangiri had approached the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), challenging an IHC order that declared maintainable a petition seeking verification of his academic degree. The petition, filed by Advocate Mian Dawood, was declared maintainable on December 9 by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, which also issued notices to Justice Jahangiri and other respondents.
During a hearing on December 15, the division bench dismissed Justice Jahangiri’s objection to the constitution of the bench and the inclusion of Chief Justice Dogar. In its written order, the court stated that, given the “sensitive nature” of allegations regarding an invalid or fake degree against a sitting judge, it was appropriate to constitute a division bench rather than a single bench.
The order further emphasised that the formation of benches was the “sole prerogative of the chief justice”.
In his latest plea before the FCC, Justice Jahangiri reiterated that the petition filed in the IHC was not admissible and requested the court to dismiss it.
