SC overturns ECP order against PTI MPA over fake degree
February 3, 2021 02:17 PM
Accepting the appeal filed by PTI Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Faisal Zaman, the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday declared the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order to register a case against the MPA for allegedly holding a fake degree null and void, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The ECP had ordered registration of the case against Faisal Zaman in 2013.
SC’s three-member bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, heard the case.
Counsel for Zaman told the apex court that his client’s degree had been verified by the university he had studied in, and that it was beyond ECP’s domain to take up such cases.
Justice Bandial remarked that as per the constitution, a legislator could only be disqualified by a court, and not ECP.
The court observed that the ECP had pronounced the verdict after a summary inquiry, and that it failed to collect proofs, and that only a court could give the decision in the case after the collection of evidence.