SC suspends membership of two PML-N MPAs
11 July, 2013
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday suspended the membership of two members of the Punjab Assembly, Shaukat Aziz and Khawaja Muhammad Islam, in the fake degree case. Both the MPAs belong to the PML-N.
In accordance with the SC verdict, membership of MPA Shaukat Aziz Bhatti from PP-4 will remain suspended till the verification of his degree from the Higher Education Commission (HEC). The HEC said Shaukat Aziz had submitted someone else's degree for verification.
Meanwhile, the court also suspended the membership of Khawaja Islam from PP-72. He had submitted an A-Level certificate that is not equivalent to the Bachelor's degree. The apex court ordered Khawaja Islam to verify the certificate till July 15. Meanwhile, the SC reserved its judgment in the degree case of Samina Khawar Hayat.
A three-member bench of the SC, presided over by the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, took up the case for hearing on Wednesday.
Tariq Mehmood, the counsel for Samina Khawar Hayat, argued the Election Commission (EC) does not use its independent mind despite being a constitutional institution. Justice will come from the bottom to top and not from the top to bottom. A trial is underway with reference to the degree issue and the court should let the trial proceed and strike down the notice, he argued.
The CJ remarked, "Your client filed a degree from the Riffah University in 2008, which was fake. Later, a degree issued by the Preston University was filed, which also seems fake."
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