LAHORE: A Punjab University’s report submitted before the Lahore High Court on Tuesday showed anomalies in the LLB result statement of outgoing chairman executive committee of Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) Jamil Asghar Bhatti.

Interestingly, an earlier report filed by the university’s examination branch last month had cleared the LLB degree of the lawyer.

Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan expressed displeasure over the discrepancy in the reports and observed that the officials involved in issuing the false report would be taken to task.

A senior woman lawyer, Gulzar Butt, had filed a petition for the verification of credentials of all the candidates contesting the election of the provincial bar council.

The latest report filed by the controller examination says as per the result statement of LLB annual examination 1996 held in Nov-Dec 1998 the record against roll number 1319 is Mr Bhatti, also a newly elected member of the PbBC as per unofficial results. However, a subsequent notification issued on Aug 30, 2000 under signatures of Muhammad Yaqoob, former controller of examinations, is not valid as he was de-seated from the position on May 13, 2000.

An official of the PU told the court that the earlier verification issued in favour of Mr Bhatti had been suspended and the case was being forwarded to a disciplinary committee and the syndicate for final decision. The official further said that during verification of another lawyer’s degree they found the complete page of the gazette had been torn.

Chief Justice Khan observed that it seemed the PU had been selling degrees with the involvement of its employees. “Nobody would be tolerated from top to bottom if the authorities do not mend their ways,” the chief justice warned the PU officials.

The chief justice directed the PU and a committee comprising lawyers to complete the process of the verification of the degrees and submit progress reports. The hearing was adjourned till Dec 7.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2020