Supreme Court Restores Justice Tariq Jahangiri’s Judicial Duties

The Supreme Court suspended the Islamabad High Court’s order stopping Justice Tariq Jahangiri from work, ruling that judges cannot be barred from judicial duties through interim orders while a complaint is pending before the Supreme Judicial Council.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Sept 29, 2025) The Supreme Court of Pakistan has suspended the Islamabad High Court’s order that barred Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri from performing judicial duties.

A five-member constitutional bench headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, and comprising Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Shahid Bilal Hasan, heard the case.

Justice Jahangiri, along with four other Islamabad High Court judges — Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq, and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz — appeared before the apex court. The judges entered the Supreme Court through the same passage as ordinary litigants.

During the hearing, Justice Mandokhail observed that the case before the Supreme Court was limited to the interim order of the Islamabad High Court, while the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) had already scheduled a meeting for October 18. Justice Shahid Bilal directed both sides to prepare their arguments, noting that objections had been raised on the petition filed against Justice Jahangiri in the IHC.

Counsel for Justice Jahangiri, senior lawyer Muneer A. Malik, argued that under established precedent, a judge cannot be barred from judicial work through an interim order, especially while a complaint is pending before the SJC. He said the order violated the landmark Malik Asad Ali case.

He also criticized the IHC’s decision as unilateral and in violation of due process, stressing that for over 16 months no urgency had been shown in the case until the sudden order of September 16.

Justice Mandokhail reiterated that the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that a judge cannot be stopped from judicial work. The bench, after deliberation, suspended the IHC’s September 16 order and issued notices to the Attorney General, Advocate General Islamabad, and other parties.

The written order stated that the case involves constitutional and legal interpretation and will be taken up again, with notices issued to relevant offices.

Meanwhile, four IHC judges who accompanied Justice Jahangiri to the Supreme Court resumed hearing their assigned cases upon return. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani’s bench began proceedings at 10:30 a.m., Justice Babar Sattar and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq’s tax bench at 11:30 a.m., and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz heard cases from 11:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.

The controversy stems from a pending petition over an alleged fake degree of Justice Jahangiri, filed in the IHC by Advocate Mian Dawood. It was under this petition that a two-member bench of the IHC had ordered him to stop working, marking the first time in history that an IHC bench had restrained one of its own judges from judicial duties.