Hearing the fake degrees case, the Supreme Court on Monday halted former federal minister Liaqat Bhatti from taking part in by-elections until his degree was verified by the HEC.
The court also issued notice to PML-Q’s Samina Khawar Hayat, PTI’s Gulam Sarwar Khan and others, seeking record of their educational credentials.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry resumed hearing in the case on Monday. Besides directing all educational institutions concerned to cooperate with the HEC, the bench also showed its dissatisfaction over HEC’s performance.
In his remarks, the CJP said apparently the HEC was using delaying tactics regarding verification of lawmakers’ degrees, as it was not taking action against influential lawmakers.
Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry said the HEC should declare illegal the degrees of those former/sitting lawmakers who were not providing required educational credentials for verification.
During the hearing, an opponent lawyer contended before the court that former lawmaker Liaqat Bhatti had contested three elections on the basis of three various degrees.
Bhatti’s lawyers said his client never claimed to have FA/BA degree, rather he had a B.Com degree.
To this, the court directed the HEC to get the degree/s of Bhatti verified within two weeks.
Meanwhile, the court also issued notice to Mir Badsha Qaisarani, Samina Khawar Hayat, Shoukat Aziz Bhatti, Gulam Sarwar, Nadar Ali Magsi and others and adjourned the hearing until today.
The court would hear some cases on today and a few the next week.
